


Lies

by ashen_girl44



Category: Ugly Betty
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Originally Posted on LiveJournal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-10 21:23:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8939872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashen_girl44/pseuds/ashen_girl44
Summary: What if Betty got to the lodge in time to tell Daniel about the whole 'tornado girl' incident? And what will it mean for Daniel and Betty? DETTY!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am new to posting to AO3, however I have posted on an LJ community before. I am starting to put my stuff on AO3 now. I hope you enjoy it!  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty!

Betty looked out of the window, enjoying the beautiful scenery of upstate, in the time between fall and summer. The trees were still vibrant, but leaves were beginning to fall. She looked at Amanda’s feet resting on the rolled down window and spoiling her view. resisting the temptation to shove Amanda’s feet back in the car where they belonged. She was grateful, because a cab would be costly, but now she had to deal with marc and Amanda, which was like dealing with two reality TV stars who hadn’t had their fix. She didn’t have time for this, she had to make sure the issue didn’t get out. Daniel would kill her and she didn’t have time for that either. She felt terrible. He trusted her and she managed to screw that up. She couldn’t imagine what he would think of her, and Wilhelmina was sure to fire her over this. Amanda caught sight of Betty’s worried face in the wing mirror.  
  
“Betty, why the long face?” she asked, pulling a grotesque imitation of Betty’s expression.  
  
“because her luv-ah is going to be so pissed off when he finds out,” marc said, smugly. He took another sip of his coffee that he had managed to grab before they set off.  
  
“shut up, marc! I am not sleeping with Daniel,”  
  
“sure you aren’t,” marc and Amanda snickered at her, and Betty frowned, throwing off Amanda’s stupid hat from her head. She didn’t know why she was in such a bad mood, maybe because her new life was falling apart and she was still pissed off at Amanda for kissing Jesse. Daniel’s attempt at comforting her didn’t do much since she knew he would never truly think that about her, she would never really be beautiful. But it didn’t matter, because she had her reputation that was about to be ruined if she couldn’t get to contact Daniel.  
  
“I am not, I am just worried about this,” she looked at the dashboard and sighed “can’t you go any faster?”  
  
“no, unless you want to end up dead,”  
  
“marc, it is a car. It can go up to the speed limit you know,” Betty reciprocated, while Amanda sighed at her.  
  
“Betty, leave marc alone. We will get to the lodge in time for you and Daniel to make good use of that hot-tub,” Amanda giggled again and stole some of marc’s coffee.  
  
Betty sighed, she knew arguing against whether or not she was sleeping with Daniel was pointless, because everyone thought so. Marc had told everyone, and he knew it wasn’t true, because Wilhelmina needed more spies than any army or secret society for all her takeover tactics, and marc was her main one. But the thing that most upset her was that she knew it could never happen between them. When she first started working with him, she squashed all feelings, because he was Daniel Meade and she was nobody from Queens, but with all the rumours (that she never let reach Daniel’s ears) it made her wonder, and then realise nothing could ever happen. Even if she became magically beautiful it still couldn’t because Daniel would never see her like that.  
  
“okay, whatever. You know I am not sleeping with him, so can we just hurry please?” marc nodded.  
  
  
They managed to get to the lodge in good time when marc went up to the speed limit and Betty ran over to find Daniel just as he was helping some woman walk across the grass, it looked like she had hurt her ankle. Betty hurriedly ran across the grass and interrupted Daniel. He almost dropped his hold on the woman.  
  
“Betty what are you doing here?”  
  
“big emergency… print… tornado,”  
  
“Betty, calm down.” he let go of the woman’s arm. “what the hell are you talking about, are you okay?” he said, not noticing Connor striding over until he interrupted what Betty was about to say.  
  
“Daniel! Hello, Betty? I see you have met my fiancée, molly. are you okay?” he turned to the woman and picked her up as he walked away. Daniel looked on, with a look of longing in his eyes, while Wilhelmina seemed to be seething with more rage than normal. Betty sighed as she noticed Daniel wasn’t listening to her, and she saw the look on Daniel’s face, it was one of longing. She knew that look because she had seen it on Daniel’s face a thousand times- even though it had never once been directed at her.  It was the look of lust and she wondered whether she would have to hit him around the head just so he would listen to her.  
  
“Daniel!” she yelled at him, and he stopped staring after the woman and stared at Betty, a confused look on his face.  
  
“yeah? You were saying something about a tornado,” she resisted the urge to hit him on the head for not listening her, maybe then she could knock him into thinking with the right head for a change.  
  
“Daniel, you know our newest issue; ‘eye of the fashion storm’ well it may not be appropriate,”  
  
“what do you mean? not appropriate?”  
  
“since there is a tornado going through the Midwest at the moment, and it would be awful to print it. think of all the people,” she started to say but Daniel stopped her.  
  
“yeah, Betty I need you to get to the point,” Betty frowned at Daniel being sharp with her and she glared at him.  
  
“I had to sit in a car with marc and Amanda for two hours, while Amanda moaned for all of it. you are going to listen to me, Daniel. I cannot stop that issue from going to print, and so I went all the way here because you weren’t answering your phone, and I couldn’t do it for you. so please just sort it out,” Betty yelled and stood there waiting for Daniel to say something. He looked guilty.  
  
“Betty, I’m sorry. I am just really stressed. I cannot believe you did all of this, you went way above and beyond the call of duty. I will go make the call, you can have lunch here if you want?”  
  
“thanks Daniel, I just need to go find marc and Amanda,” she gave him one of her stunning smiles, that lit up his world, even with her braces. She ran off, leaving him to make the call. Betty walked over to where marc and Amanda were last parked, but she couldn’t see the car and instead a bunch of steam coming out of the tree’s a little way up the road. She ran up there, to see marc with his hands in his hair and Amanda complaining even more than usual. Betty panicked and rushed over to their side.  
  
“oh my god! You guys! Are you hurt?”  
  
“no, I’m fine,” marc said and grimaced. “but cliff’s car isn’t,” he pointed towards the car.  
  
“speak for yourself!” Amanda said, sniffing.  
  
“Amanda! Are you hurt?” Betty rushed to her side and looked her up and down, but there didn’t seem to be any bruising on her, or anything. Not a hair looked out of place.  
  
“no, calm your churros! But look at my hair!” she wailed “it is even frizzier!” she started to cry and Betty rolled her eyes.  
  
“Amanda, calm down. marc, do you have any cash?”  
  
“no, I don’t. I didn’t realise we would be this long,” he said and dramatically threw his hands into the air.  
  
“well, Daniel said we can stay for lunch, I could get cab money from him, or he might let us take the town car?”  
  
“ooh, Betty you are so totally sleeping with him!” Amanda grinned evilly and Betty chose to ignore that comment, and instead walked up the country house.  
  
  
Daniel sat down in front of his mother as she kept quizzing him.  
  
“… you look like a boy with a crush?” Daniel shrugged, wanting to tell her about molly but afraid he was going to get slapped around the face for being so stupid.  
  
“maybe,”  
  
“would her name be Betty, by any chance?” his mother asked, smirking at him. he didn’t know what to say, he hadn’t really entertained the idea, apart from when his father first hired her and he would sleep with her just to piss him off, but then he realised he couldn’t be the one to break Betty’s heart.  
  
The only other time was with Renee, and how it had almost been exciting to think of it. having someone like Betty have a crush on him, someone so nice and kind and caring, on him- the infamous man-whore. Disappointment wasn’t really the right word. He didn’t feel anything when she had played a joke on him, it was like he was numb. He had really believed Renee when she had said it. and to have Betty throw it back in his face like that…  
  
“what, god! Mom, no!” he replied, trying to stop his brain fromtelling her about the incident, because he could just imagine what she would have to say about that. His mother gave him a questioning look just as he was about to tell her about molly when Betty appeared by his side.  
  
“Daniel!” she was out of breath and her hair and clothes were mussed.  
  
“Betty! What is wrong?”  
  
“marc crashed cliff’s car,” she said as she shook. Daniel felt himself go cold as the blood in his veins felt like ice. Was Betty hurt? She didn’t look hurt, but she was always really good at hiding it.  
  
“oh my god? Betty?”  
  
“Daniel, calm down. I am fine, gee- you are worse than my dad sometimes,” she sighed, and then looked around and smiled at his mother before Daniel practically shoved her into the chair.  
  
“you need to sit down, you are shaking!” the look on his face was one of pure fear.  
  
“Daniel, I am FINE! I wasn’t in the car, Amanda and marc are fine too. But the car isn’t. could we maybe get a ride back in one of the town cars?” she asked, pulling the face she always did when she wanted something.  
  
“sure, we couldn’t get a cab to take us this far out anyway! But all the town cars are back at the city. They went back a while ago. I could call one to take us,”  
  
“Daniel, you don’t need to go. I am sure you are needed here?” she looked at Claire who nodded with a grin on her face.  
  
“dear, Betty is right. You are needed here, call the town car and we will sort something out, but we don’t go back for a few days, so you are going to have to stay here,”  
  
“but I want to tell Betty’s family,”  
  
“what? that I wasn’t involved in a car accident. I didn’t even see it happen, and Amanda is the only one complaining, because her hair is frizzy,” Betty sighed and stood up, trying to get away from Daniel who was hovering around her.  
  
“okay, I will go call one of the cars. You can get some food, they have menu’s that housekeeping will bring you,” Daniel glanced at her once more, worriedly as he walked into the lodge. He was terrified that Betty was going to go back into the city and see that he didn’t stop the issue from printing, in fact he encouraged it. MODE sells MODE, and the bigger the scandal the more sales.  
  
It was like the stunt Sofia pulled with him, she was just unfortunate to pick the son of the publishing mogul, whose company was the one that was printing her magazine to include in the stunt.  
  
But if Betty got blamed… she would never speak to him again, and he didn’t know how he could cope with that. He picked up the phone that he managed to free from Connor, and turn on the television. Only to see Betty’s picture plastered all over it. only about five minutes after the first copies went out. This wasn’t good. he saw the headline ‘tornado girl’ and he knew he was screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it doesn't seem very detty at the moment, however it will be- I promise!

Daniel ran back to his mother’s side, his face white with fear. Betty had gone off to get some food, and he could see her at another table with marc and Amanda ordering food. He had to make sure she didn’t see that headline.  
  
“mom!” Daniel bent down to face his mother who didn’t look up since she had her phone in her hand and was staring rather intently at the screen.  
  
“what is it, dear?” she didn’t look up, and continued to text. Daniel moved the phone out of his mother’s line of vision, she raised her eyebrows at Daniel, who was white in the face, with mussed hair that he had run his fingers through multiple times in between the living room and his mother’s table outside. “are you here to discuss you having a crush on your assistant?” she asked smoothly and Daniel rolled his eyes and sat in his seat.  
  
“for the last time, no, mother! I do not have a crush on Betty,” Daniel groaned, as he watched molly from across the patio, being helped into a chair by Connor, while Wilhelmina was waiting in the background, looking more murderous than usual. He needed to tell his mom about molly, otherwise someone- the wrong someone would get their hands on that information and he would never see the back end of it. especially if that got passed onto Connor, who might leave the company and that wouldn’t be good at all.  
  
“whatever you say, son. Anyway, why do you look as if you have seen a ghost,” Daniel tried to ignore his mother’s obvious disbelief of his adamancy that he didn’t think of Betty that way.  
  
“so you know Betty was panicking over the whole potential PR disaster wasn’t exactly… unnecessary. Well, something happened, and Wilhelmina may have convinced me to ship the issue,” Daniel looked at his lap in defeat, feeling terrible about his decision.  
  
“Daniel, you do realise this could ruin Betty’s life. You can get away with it because you are a Meade and we have all our resources to fall back on- but Betty doesn’t. she cannot buy out the press or use her last name to escape from a scandal, and she doesn’t have the benefits of nepotism to fall back on. Daniel, she has her reputation and I don’t want you to ruin that!”  
  
“how would I ruin that?” Daniel knew exactly what would happen. His mother was right, Betty didn’t have her last name or anything like that to fall back on, her reputation would be ruined if he let this get out. And he couldn’t let her see it, mainly because it was already on fashion buzz, which for most of their community was more important than the actual news.  
  
“Daniel, I think you may already have had a hand in that. And don’t play dumb with me, I brought you up!”  
  
“mom, it is out,” Daniel admitted after several very uncomfortable minutes of his mother staring at him, angrily.  
  
“when?”  
  
“about 15 minutes after I said to ship it,”  
  
“well, the boys at the loading docks do work fast. Is it already on the television?” Claire asked, sipping her tea, but she looked around to see if Betty was still sitting at the table arguing with marc and Amanda.  
  
“uh-huh, Suzuki, live,” Daniel bit his lip and thought back to the ridiculous image on the television. Amanda had obviously been busy utilizing the company photoshop to give Betty a fake moustache in the picture. That did give Daniel an idea.  
  
“well, we need to not let her know, because she will hate you when she finds out,”  
  
“thanks mom,” Daniel said sarcastically, he knew his idea would be a good plan, but knowing his mom, who had literally gone on the lamb he thought it would be good to hear her opinion.  
  
“stop interrupting! Anyway, make sure she doesn’t know of it. I suggest keeping her here for a little while, maybe until we come home from the retreat. I can call her family, and hopefully by then it will have died down a bit,”  
  
“you realise it isn’t going to die down a bit, and I had an idea. We could give her a make-over!” Daniel said excitedly, he didn’t know why he was so excited over that prospect, but it was something he must have been looking forward to something that he expected eventually. He knew Betty was beautiful and he couldn’t wait for the whole world to see what he could see.  
  
“Daniel, I know you like working as an EIC of a major fashion magazine, but is there something you need to tell me dear? Is that why you have been acting so strangely?” his mother gently asked, while Daniel eyes grew wide at what his mother was insinuating.  
  
“mom! No! it is just when she gets back to New York we don’t want the press hounding her, and if she looks different to what she does now…”  
  
“dear, you realise they do have these things called cameras and Betty has been on television before. they would recognise her; I am saying pretty quickly.”  
  
“the only picture the press have apart from the one where she is in her poncho, is the one she took where she was approving the shipping and Amanda may have… photoshopped a moustache onto Betty,” Daniel made a face, and looked across the courtyard to where Amanda was trying to eat Betty’s food which had just arrived. Her shouts of ‘she doesn’t need it’ could be heard from across courtyard.  
  
“maybe that would be a good idea, I remember Hilda did me that makeover that let me say goodbye to Bradford for the final time. and so, I think that could work. But she is staying until the end of the retreat, just don’t let her know exactly what is going on.”  
  
“yep, Betty would be really upset. Do you want me to call?”  
  
“yes, Daniel. You need to explain why Ignacio’s youngest daughter is all over the news because you couldn’t find the courage to stand up to Wilhelmina,” Claire seemed annoyed and took another sip of her tea, before the waiter collected it from her and brought her another pitcher of it.  
  
“I hope that isn’t the long island version, mom?”  
  
“relax, son. I am, and don’t take that kind of attitude with me,” she snipped and pulled him up from his chair and pushed him towards Betty. “now stop being silly and go and man up!” Daniel rolled his eyes and walked off, stopping in front of Betty’s table.  
  
Amanda and marc both looked up with smiles on their faces and Betty remembered their earlier conversation in the car. She kicked Amanda under the table as Amanda opened her mouth, grinning slyly at Betty.  
  
“Betty could I talk to you for a moment?” Daniel asked, not wanting to speak to her family first because he didn’t want to lose vital body parts, especially if her sister found out. Betty’s expression turned steely when she looked at him, and Daniel felt his heart plummet. She knew. Crap.  
  
“what is it, Daniel?” Betty tried to act demure, but Daniel could tell from the way her jaw was clenched she was incredibly annoyed, with him. and she actually had reason to be, this time.  
  
“well, erm… you might have-,”  
  
“Hilda told me that I am all over the news, and I have a new nickname, ‘tornado girl’. I guess it was too late to stop the printers?” she asked, seeming more disappointed and apologetic than angry at him. Daniel felt like he had dodged a bullet, but then he might have to confess it, or someone else might tell her that this was all his fault. She looked at her shoes, which he recognised as Amanda’s, apparently, the whole outfit was, and sighed. “Daniel, I am so sorry, I obviously didn’t get here in time… if someone drove up to the speed limit we may have,” she glared at marc who made a mocking face at Amanda.  
  
“no, you don’t have to be sorry. Betty; you were just doing your job, to be honest I probably wouldn’t have even noticed that there was a connection.” He couldn’t stand her feeling sad for something that was his fault. Betty always worried about other people before herself, and sometimes it broke his heart because he saw her get hurt countless times in the process  
.  
“okay. apparently, it is all over the news, Hilda just called. Even Justin made a tee-shirt for it!” she sighed and blew the bangs out of her eyes, they were getting a little long for her now and Betty did that every five seconds.  
  
“I knew about that, and I spoke to my mom. She suggested you can stay here for the next few days until the editors get back, marc and Amanda you are welcome to stay too, since you crashed the car,” marc glanced at Amanda who not so discreetly pretended to gag and shook her head.  
  
“no thanks, we will leave you two… alone!” marc whispered the last word and Betty glared at him before concentrating on Daniel.  
  
“erm, really?” images flooded her mind of what fun she imagined having, the idea sharing. Of course, she wished it wasn’t under these kind of circumstances, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. And she would much rather be on a retreat hiding from the press than in her bedroom in her father’s house in queens.  
  
“yeah, wait until things have died down a little,” Daniel said smiling at Betty, whose face split into a wide smile, and she practically jumped into his arms she was so eager to give him a hug. Daniel wound his arms around her waist and hugged her back, accidentally smelling the vanilla of her hair.  
  
“thank you! thank you!” she grinned as she let go, and immediately got her phone out of her coat pocket. “I am going to go and call my family!” before running off. Daniel didn’t know why she was so excited over this trip, especially since she must know by now that the people at MODE weren’t the most typical and in fact the only reason why Wilhelmina went into the woods is to kill something. Betty would have a heart attack over that, especially if Wilhelmina even came anywhere near a rabbit. Also, betty had definitely seen Bambi way too many times. He sat back down at the table which marc and Amanda had vacated and waited for Betty to get back, and finish eating her food. She arrived, beaming and took the seat.  
  
“Daniel… so, I am staying so the media doesn’t know where I am?” she asked, munching on a French fry. How she managed to get them to make her fries was beyond Daniel, but Betty could be pretty persuasive.  
  
“yes, we just wanted to make sure you were okay. So you are staying for all of the three days we are here? You can participate in all the team building stuff if you want to… you like that sort of thing,”  
  
“yes! That sounds awesome! What do you guys do, is it like sitting around a fire and sharing ideas?” Daniel chuckled at her eagerness and how adorable she was when she was excited. He honestly hadn’t asked what was going on with the activities, but he guessed it would be stuff like that. Maybe if Betty was there then he wouldn’t look so stupid. When he was in the woods, all he could think about was how he would probably never have another idea again, considering the one responsible for most of his work was Betty.  
  
“yeah, I think. You will have to go and ask Connor, though?” Daniel took a fry off her plate and she smacked his hand.  
  
“go get your own Daniel, I have driven all the way up here. You would be exhausted if you had been in a car with Amanda and marc for two hours!” she grimaced, but fed him a fry anyway. She noticed when she said Connor’s name she glanced over and saw Connor and molly across the courtyard eating food. She saw that look on Daniel’s face again when he saw molly, it was like his whole face softened and a gentle smile spread across it.  
  
“you like her, don’t you?” Betty asked, leaning across the table to speak to him.  
  
“what? No! don’t be ridiculous!” Daniel said, going straight on the defensive which normally meant she was right and he just didn’t want to admit it.  
  
“Daniel. She is engaged!” Betty hissed, and when he looked as if he was going to say something about how all men would become obsolete when he set his sights on a woman Betty stopped him by slapping him upside the head.  
  
“ow! Betty! What was that for?” he rubbed his head, although it couldn’t have hurt much.  
  
“well, stop staring at her. she is taken and not by you and don’t start with that macho stuff about how women fall at your feet,” Betty rolled her eyes, Daniel was her best friend but she hated it when he was an arrogant pig about how his charms could win over anyone.  
  
“I am allowed to stare at whoever I want to! You wouldn’t care as much if I stared at you,” Daniel stated sulkily. Betty sighed, she really got annoyed with the defensive and rude side of Daniel. Especially when he was trying to cover up his lust for someone by doing so.  
  
“I probably wouldn’t notice, you do it anyway,” Betty declared sipping at her coffee the waiter had just delivered.  
  
“I do not!” he blushed. Betty sighed, she didn’t mean it like _that_ “I don’t stare at you because I only stare at people who I am attracted to,” Daniel said and saw the unimpressed look on Betty’s face as she was trying to resist slapping Daniel. She already knew that, and despite what could be only described as the beginnings of a crush she decided to not peruse that, and it was easier to lie to Daniel’s face than admit the truth. He suddenly looked up and looked apologetic, “sorry Betty, I didn’t mean to upset you…”  
  
“Daniel, you didn’t upset me. we already discussed this, just don’t go chasing after married women,”  
  
“she isn’t married,”  
  
“no, but she is engaged! And molly doesn’t look like the type of girl who breaks off an engagement to chase after one of the most notorious bachelors.  
  
“you don’t know her!” Daniel replied grumpily.  
  
“neither do you, you just met her. and I do know you. when you get a new woman into your head you always get your heart broken.” Funnily enough in response to that Daniel started to chuckle.  
  
“so, it is my heart you are worried about now? You didn’t listen to a word I said when I was warning you about henry. In fact, you just went and had sex with him,” Daniel immediately froze seeing the shocked reaction on Betty’s face. he may have said more than he originally intended to.  
“how did you know about that? Did you have me followed?!” Betty yelled at him, causing several people to turn around and look at them. Luckily not Connor and molly.  
  
“no! and please be quiet!” Daniel lowered his hands and Betty reluctantly slid back into her seat. “I went to your house to apologise for calling you stupid, because you are probably the smartest women I know. And then when I got there Hilda told me that I was too late and you had already gone to henry’s to… you know,” Betty thought she had never seen Daniel look so shy at the mention of sex, not to mention the man was still blushing.  
  
“I am so going to kill Hilda when I get back. But Daniel I do care about you and I don’t want to see you hung up on something that is never going to happen,” Betty sighed and looked at the small amount of food that was on her plate. She pushed it over to Daniel. “you can have the rest, as a peace offering. Also, you have to ask Connor what activities we are doing because I don’t want everyone knowing what has happened, please?”  
  
“okay, but if I tell everyone that you are here assisting me then they are going to want theirs too,” Daniel huffed. He felt horrible about saying the thing to betty about not being attracted to her, he hated lying to betty. he looked around as Connor and molly started to approach their table. Betty was about to say something when they came up and spoke instead.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own ugly betty!

“Daniel, thanks for taking care of molly. She is fine, we just think it is a little bruising, I was wondering if you could keep her company? She doesn’t know anyone else and Wilhelmina needed me to work on something,” Connor asked, leading the still limping molly to a chair across from Daniel and Betty.   
  
“sure thing Connor,” Daniel said smiling, while Betty looked annoyed at him. she knew what Daniel was doing, he was playing a game he nearly always won at. Seduction. “hey, Connor, Betty is going to be staying for a few days; until we leave actually. She wanted to know if she could do some of the activities?”  
  
“yes, of course; though mostly it is brainstorming, me and molly are going for a walk tomorrow, would you two like to come?” he asked and Betty eagerly nodded. She knew that Daniel being around molly wasn’t the best idea, but she really wanted to hear some of Connor’s ideas and maybe pitch a few of her own. When Connor left, Betty sat, looking at the scenery as they all sat awkwardly for the first few minutes.  
  
“so, Daniel. I just wanted to say thank you for all of your help earlier. I didn’t realise it was so high up!” molly giggled and took a sip from the coffee the waiter just brought out. Betty was staring at Daniel like a trained interrogator, obviously minding his behaviour. Betty was smart enough to realise that if Daniel started to hit on Connor’s fiancée Connor would be gone leaving only the crumbling company and Daniel with a black eye. He had tried to stop Betty from making stupid mistakes, however he knew that while hers were normally done out of genuine love and an eagerness to explore the world, his were driven by lust and a need to have something.  
  
“what were you doing to hurt your ankle?” Betty interrupted, while molly looked at Betty. Her tone was perfectly pleasant, but she didn’t look as if it was that way when she spoke to Betty.  
  
“I was climbing a tree, I thought they say you are always too old to do this stuff, so that is why I did it! Daniel agreed with me, adults never seem to have that much fun,” molly sighed and shrugged her shoulders, beaming at Daniel. Betty looked over at Daniel incredulously, before leaning over to Daniel and whispering in his ear.  
  
“the last time you climbed a tree was to get to your tree house, you were 18 and you only did that because Ashley Lansbury was in there naked,” she hissed in his ear and pursed her lips. Daniel frowned at her, knowing that Betty wouldn’t miss a chance to humiliate him if it meant he wouldn’t screw up with Connor. Betty knew what molly was trying to do, and Betty was starting to think that she was wrong about molly suddenly not leaving her fiancée to chase after Daniel.  
  
But if they got into a contest over who knew Daniel better, molly could have hired a private investigator and still wouldn’t know half of what Betty knew. She knew stuff she really didn’t want to know, like what brand of condoms he used, and where he bought his … magazines- sometimes because she was the one who had to buy those magazines. Daniel turned red when Betty said that and looked away from molly who was frowning at them both.  
  
“so what brings you here? I thought only editors and people like my Connor could come to this retreat,” molly asked, her voice light but expression clouded.   
  
“erm,” Betty stumbled over possible idea’s. she didn’t want to reveal the true reason why she was here, after all she didn’t want it getting out. Daniel knew that too, and glanced over before discreetly squeezing Betty’s hand under the table.  
  
“well, it is for editors and their partners,” was he going to say what Betty thought, she was one second away from clamping her hand over his mouth to shut him up. “and we’re together. That is why she came,” Betty drew in a breath when Daniel said that. She couldn’t believe he said that, she gripped his hands tighter.   
  
“that’s nice, we both have someone. How come you didn’t say anything before?” she asked and Daniel glances at Betty, who was fuming and gripping his hand tighter.  
  
“well I don’t like to publicise it. you know the boss- assistant taboo.” Betty glared at him and hissed in his ear  
  
“never stopped you before!” Betty was now exceedingly angry at him.  
  
After a few more minutes of uncomfortable conversation Connor came to take molly back to their room for a nap, while Betty glared at Daniel.  
“Daniel! What the hell?” he knew it was bad because she hardly every cursed at him.  
  
“look, you didn’t want anyone knowing about the whole ‘tornado girl’ fiasco, so I lied. Big deal, plus it will make sure molly has no interest in me and make me less likely to make stupid mistakes,” he tried to reason, grinning at her, but Betty merely huffed and glared at him even more.  
  
“why me? why couldn’t you use Amanda, she is here too! And you guys have actually had a relationship… sort of. Plus no one would believe you and I are going out!” she sighed and put her head in her hands.  
  
“yes, we slept together. But there are still a ton of unresolved issues, and why not us? We know each other better than anyone, you know what brand of condoms I use! And you have been in far more unbelievable fake relationships than this one” Daniel said for emphasis.  
  
“yes, but if anything like that happens a ton of rumours will be going around, really nasty ones as well!”  
  
“Betty, there are already rumours-,”  
  
“wait! You know?” Betty had done her best to hide the rumours from Daniel and make sure that he didn’t hear about it. it was the kind of thing that led to really embarrassing questions.   
  
“yes, of course I know. And it is only for three days, then I will probably never see her again. we have never seen her around before, so why now? Please, Betty?” the sight of him pleading and the valid points he provided her with were enough to convince her. she gave Daniel a half smile and nodded weakly.  
  
“okay, only on two conditions- you do not spread any more rumours and any created you must stop them immediately, and you cannot touch me more than hugs,”  
  
“I think that is going to be pretty hard, my mom could only get one room for the both of us,” Betty stared at him wide eyed before walking off, only pausing to say   
  
“I will take the couch,”  
  
“but there isn’t one,” was all Daniel managed to get out before she left him standing in the courtyard.   
  
  
  
Daniel finished doing the work and activities that Connor set while Betty sipped spiced coffee with Claire, who didn’t know a thing of what was going on. They were talking about ideas to help promote hot flash now that it had been demoted into an insert, and Betty was enjoying her time talking to Claire, it made a change to be a valued member of an intelligent conversation instead of the girl who got everyone coffee.  
“hey, mom, Betty. Are you okay?” Daniel asked as he came up to meet them, Claire nodded and Betty looked ashamed.   
  
“yes, we are. We just had a very insightful conversation with Connor and his fiancée molly, you may know her?”  Daniel swallowed, his mom would actually think they were telling the truth as she was adamant that he had a thing for Betty and had been so for a long time.  
  
“yeah?” Daniel stuttered nervously and went to stand behind Betty, who looked up at him with an equally unimpressed look on her face.  
  
“well I just wanted to say congratulations for you both, though it took longer than I or Alexis expected,” Claire sniffed at her drink which Daniel quickly removed from her hands, this was his turn to glare disapprovingly. “what? It is five o’clock somewhere, including here, so I will have that back,” she took another sip of what looked like her martini. Betty turned around and made a face at him, but the minute Connor and molly walked up to their table Betty said rather loudly:  
  
“I will have what she’s having,” pointing to Claire and the waiter at the same time. Daniel knew what Betty was like when she was drunk, and she was about ten more times embarrassing than his mother.   
  
“no you won’t.” he turned to Connor and molly as he stood behind Betty’s chair.  
  
“oh, we were just going to ask if you two wanted to come out for drinks at the hotel bar with us, seeing as we are two of the only couples at this retreat. If I can, I must say I am surprised by this. I thought it was just a rumour?” Connor smiled at the two of them, while Betty looked at Daniel, wanting to get out of the situation.  
  
“why, I think that would be a great idea. After all my future daughter in law doesn’t want to get bored talking to me all day,” Claire laughed and got up leaving Daniel and Betty with a confused expression on their faces. Molly and Connor looked pretty shocked, well, maybe just molly looked shocked. Taking this as their queue to leave Daniel dragged Betty upright and to the bar. When they were just outside molly and Connor went ahead of them, getting a seat, while Betty and Daniel stood in the rain while Betty started to yell at him.  
  
“Daniel! I don’t want to go for drinks with them, can’t we just say we have to go do something work related or something?” Betty asked, holding her hands above her head to try and shield her hair from the rain, knowing it would go frizzier than it already was if it was soaked. She regretted removing the hat.   
  
“no, Betty. My mom already said we were free. And I don’t want to let them down, Connor is so cool,”   
  
“you have already said that, a lot. I am starting to wonder if your crush is on him?” Betty replied snidely, and Daniel sighed and rolled his eyes at her.  
  
“Betty! Please, we will only stay for a little while, and just don’t drink too much!” Daniel ordered and guided her out of the rain. But when they got into the smart foyer of the bar, Betty stopped Daniel again.  
  
“since I am your pretend girlfriend, you are buying for me tonight, and I am going to need a lot of alcohol for tonight,” she threw her wet jacket at Daniel and stormed into the room. Daniel looked at her in surprise and a little shock as he chased after her to join molly and Connor at the bar. They were sitting at the bar, while the staff watched them attentively, recognising them as rich and Betty eager to drink. The bar was mahogany and red and gold and was unlike the sterile white or black of the more upscale bars in New York.  
  
Betty was talking to them as he handed the people manning the coat room Betty’s jacket. By now her hair was damp and curling around her shoulders, giving her face a softer look. She smiled at him when he arrived, he guessed in an attempt to suck up to him, remembering that she was still his assistant, and handed him his favourite scotch.  
  
“it is the ’55 single malt, is that okay?” she asked, as he sat next to her, aware of Connor and Molly watching them.  
  
“yeah, are you getting one of those awful mango margarita things?” Daniel sniffed and took a sip of his scotch, Betty narrowed her eyes but laughed at him.  
  
“no, could I have a martini, two olives?” the bartender nodded at Betty and then took a sideways glance at her wet clothes, which were sticking to her body quite closely, which Daniel himself noticed and sent him into over-protective mode. Daniel had half a mind to go knock that guy out, no way should he be looking at Betty like that, fake relationship or not. Daniel quickly took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, it wasn’t as damp as hers since he had the good sense to stand under the canopy over the entrance to the bar.  
  
“Daniel what are you doing?”  
  
“your jacket is wet, everyone can see your boobs,” he whispered in her ear as Betty blushed and tucked it around her tighter.  
  
“so how did it happen between you two?” molly asked, and Betty slugged down the rest of her drink, knowing she was going to have to answer that one. But she didn’t want to, it may reveal things accidentally that weren’t supposed to come out, especially not when Daniel might be shocked when he wasn’t supposed to be.  
  
“it was quite a while ago…” Betty started with, but Daniel interrupted her, putting his arm around her as he spoke instead.  
  
“well I had just gotten dumped by this awful woman on live television, and so to cheer me up Betty and I went out all night, we ate pizza and crashed a wedding and sang karaoke, and we ended up on this bridge at five am.”   
  
“I think I heard about you getting dumped by that woman for an article? ‘fling to ring in sixty days’?” Connor butted in and Daniel nodded stiffly.  
  
“anyway, I began to think of Betty differently that night, on the bridge,” Betty froze, she loved the memory of that night. Daniel had shown such a sensitive side and spoken about Alex, and she truly saw how good his heart was that day. She knew that Daniel would never go for a girl like her, but she realised she could at least start a friendship with him.  “I think I realised it then, that maybe there was something more to  
relationships. It took a while and Betty had this guy who she really liked, henry and I hated him because he had gotten another girl pregnant and I didn’t want him near Betty, but she didn’t realise it was because of my… feelings. Anyway, she says this other guy was her boyfriend, and I take them to see wicked on Broadway and Betty ends up on the actual stage kissing henry and I get mad at her. but I managed to man up and tell her how I felt,” Daniel smiles at molly clearly hoping it had impressed her as it had done to Betty.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own ugly Betty!

Betty swipes at her eyes. She knew it wasn’t real, but Daniel basing it off of real events that had so much meaning to her made it seem real. She also knew it was for molly’s benefit to make him seem like a really romantic person, when she was the one telling him how to be so, she couldn’t deny the dull ache in her chest.   
  
Daniel smiled when molly wiped away the tears in her eyes, and Daniel squeezed Betty’s shoulders in response. His version of saying ‘good job! You are helping me try to get into the pants of a lady engaged to the CFO of our struggling company’ Betty flinched away his hand in anger.  
  
“wow, that is just so romantic, Connor and I have been together for almost four years, we went hiking to reach Tibet by elephant, but we never got there,”  
  
“see when molly gets too wet she gets these horrid rashes, we didn’t make it far, the conditions were so tough,” Connor chimed in as Betty drowned another drink. Daniel morosely sipped on his scotch again, feeling left out, even though his little speech had made molly cry it had made Betty mad at him. he didn’t want her getting any ideas, but half the reason is because the more idea’s she got the harder it would be for him to deny it. the simple way he could escape was by rationalizing it ‘it was bound to happen,’ when two people work so closely, but Betty proved him that wasn’t a good enough reason.  
  
“awful, giant red blotches!” Molly reiterated and his mind immediately drifted to Betty’s smooth olive skin, which when he had crashed on her bed when he was too drunk to walk he may have sneaked a peek at. She was really beautiful, and most of the time it was just when she was in her pyjamas and came into where he was sleeping to get her headgear or something else.  
  
“oh poor you!” Betty said, slurring slightly as she had drunk quite a lot and had only had a few things off of the cheese and cracker board.   
  
“I know, but it was worth it. the scenery was so beautiful! Have you travelled much?”  
  
“well, I went to Mexico with my family, and I went away for a month to go on a road trip around the united states,”  
  
“did Daniel go with you?” molly asked and Daniel looked awkwardly at the floor, not wanting the inebriated Betty to spill the details of Gio’s invitation to Rome and henry’s proposal.   
  
“no, he was looking after his nephew,” Betty took another sip of her drink. She had only drunk about two, but was such a lightweight and was already quite drunk. Daniel was just relieved that she didn’t disclose information about the whole mess with DJ and Alexis. “who he thought he was his son, but that was before his sister- then his brother cheated on his girlfriend and got her pregnant,” he spoke too soon.  
  
“his sister and his brother?” molly asked with a shocked expression on her face. Daniel groaned, why did she have to be the last person on earth who hadn’t heard of Alexis Meade?  
  
“no! his brother cheated with Daniel’s girlfriend, and then he disappeared for two years after faking his death, then he came back as a woman,” Betty said, thoughtfully. Daniel quickly removed the drink from her hands and pushed it away from her at the bar.  
  
“god you are worse than my mom when you drink Betty!” Daniel laughed at Betty’s rebuffed expression and she flipped the curls out of her face. she attempted to stand up and nearly fell flat on her face, only to have Daniel’s strong hands holding her upright. “okay, you cannot hold your liquor, sweetie. I am taking you upstairs,”  
  
“Daniel I need to go to the bathroom,” Betty blinked at him, her face closer than it had been since he was bending down to pick her up and she was swaying slightly in the heels that Amanda gave her. he had a sudden mad thought of ripping her glasses away from her face, so her beautiful brown eyes would be un-cumbered by them and he could kiss her pink, plump lips. He shook himself slightly and stood up straight, not knowing he had been staring at Betty’s face in a trance. Apparently a little too long, since he could hear the whispers of those around him.  
  
“okay, can you walk?” Daniel asked, still supporting Betty’s shoulder. She nodded and walked quite unsteadily off towards the bathroom. Connor and molly looked on, their expressions quizzical.  
  
“is she normally like this?” Daniel watched Betty’s retreating figure.  
  
“no, she… she is really nervous. We don’t really publicise it,” Daniel took another drink and hoped that they would stop asking him questions. By the time Betty got back he was ready to drag her to their room, as to get away from the scrutinising questions of Connor and molly. Betty came back, rubbing her eyes as she seemed to stumble slightly in the heels. Daniel looked over at Connor and molly before picking Betty up in his arms, much like Connor had done before when molly hurt her ankle.   
  
“what are you doing?” Betty asked, looking around surprised but she didn’t resist and rested her head on his shoulder.  
  
“just go with it,” he whispered back. Daniel managed to carry her all the way back to his room. Betty was so tiny compared to him and some of the glamazon models that he had… befriended over the years. Daniel got into their room, righting Betty so she stood on the plush carpet. She looked around blearily, waiting for the light to come on in the dark room. the room had a dusty rose carpet and traditional wooden furniture, giving the gilt edges a rustic feel.  
  
“Daniel, where is the couch?” she looked around, seeing a door to an en suite, and a couple of arm chairs reclining next to a book case with a coffee table. There was also a chest of draws, but no couch.   
  
“I tried to tell you earlier, there isn’t one,” he said awkwardly, shoving his hands in his pants pocket, seeing as Betty still had his jacket. Betty stumbled over to sit on the bed, while she took off her shoes.  
  
“oh! Can we not get another room?”   
  
“this is the only free one, sorry Betty. But it has a shower and two armchairs, I could always sleep in one of those?” Daniel suggested, moving over to one of them.   
  
“no, that isn’t fair. How about we share the bed,” she turned around to see the large expanse of the bed. “there is more than enough room,” she gave him a weak smile and Daniel nodded. Betty ran into the bathroom, leaving her bag on the bed. he wondered what betty was going to sleep in, considering her clothing was wet, but before Daniel could over think that molly arrived at the door.   
  
“hello?” she said when Daniel answered, still in his suit.   
  
“oh hey, molly,” he tried to keep his voice low, hoping Betty wouldn’t come out and get mad at him for talking to molly. As much as it didn’t add up in his mind it was almost like Betty was jealous of molly… but she wasn’t the one who started this whole charade.   
  
“hi, Daniel, I just wanted to say thank you for coming with us today, I don’t really know anyone and we had a great talk today,” she said and Daniel nodded, listening out for any sounds of Betty coming out of the bathroom. “so where is Betty?” molly asked, and looked around Daniel to the bed.  
  
“erm-,”  
  
“I didn’t think she was here. Tell me, are you two actually dating?” she asked, leaning against the doorframe with a sceptical look on her face. Daniel felt trapped. Why would molly care? She had Connor, but was she interested in him? he could practically hear his heart thumping in his ears at the possibility, but he couldn’t tell the truth. Then everyone would know the real reason why Betty was here, and if it transpired that it was a fake relationship Betty would be the one accused of being delusional, not him.  
  
“what? Of course, we are!” Daniel adamantly insisted, while molly still looked suspiciously at him.   
  
“really, because I know when people are lying. I bet she isn’t even here now!” molly said, still looking innocent but her voice didn’t really display that. Luckily Betty chose the right time to call for Daniel.  
  
“Daniel! Please come in here,” Daniel left the door open and went into the bathroom, Betty was standing in a towel, looking at her wet clothes.  
  
“Daniel I cannot reach the shower head to turn it off, please help!” she asked and looked at him pleadingly, folding her arms over her chest.  
  
Daniel got a little bit distracted anyway and couldn’t stop staring at Betty, especially certain areas of her body. The pleading look turned to one of annoyance as she turned around and pointed to the shower which was still on. Daniel reached up and tried to turn off the shower, however the water sprayed him before he could reach it, drenching him, Betty and the floor. Betty was blushing and turned around, before she noticed the floor was drenched.  
  
“Daniel! What the hell did you do, why are you soaking?” she hissed, and looked around for another towel, before handing it to Daniel.   
  
“it is really high up and it is all slippery on the floor. How did you reach it before?”  
  
“I jumped, the floor wasn’t wet then. God! You are soaked, here, take off your clothes,” she handed him the towel and Daniel stared at her, wide eyed.  
  
“Betty you know we aren’t in a real relationship, you cannot just say that,” Daniel whispered knowing molly probably was still listening to them. She gave a girlish giggle and threw the towel at him.  
  
“I meant get dry, and wait until I am outside of the room. I left my pyjamas out there,” she walked out of the door in her towel, and immediately to where molly was standing. Molly’s eyes went wide and Betty looked around to where she could go to hide, but there was nowhere so instead she wrapped the towel tighter around her and stared back at molly.  
  
“Betty!” she said, still looking shocked.  
  
“molly, what are you doing in our room?”  
  
“sorry,” she was trying to look anywhere but Betty’s dripping form, “I thought it was just Daniel’s hotel room,” she mumbled apologetically, realising Betty could probably hear her and Daniel’s earlier conversation.   
  
“no, why would it just be his, didn’t you think I wasn’t staying the night?” Betty asked, spying her pyjamas on the bed.  
  
“erm, you know what. Never mind what I thought- erm, goodnight!” molly said in a strained voice and ran out of the room.   
  
Betty got dressed for bed, and got under the covers, worrying Daniel was going to tease her for having pyjamas with bunnies on them. Daniel came out with just his boxers on and Betty immediately averted her gaze.  
  
“Daniel where are your clothes?” she asked, peeling back a corner of the comforter for him.  
  
“dripping wet, in the bathroom.” He looked at her arms, covered with the fluffy fabric of her pyjamas. “like yours… did you bring pyjamas?”  
  
“yes I was supposed to stay at Queens tonight, and I brought all of my pyjamas into my apartment, so I had to bring them with me. also, why was molly here?” Betty said, showing her arms to Daniel who chuckled.   
  
“they have bunnies on them! Also, she just wanted to say thank you, and…”  
  
“accuse me and you of being in a pretend relationship, which we are but then if it comes out that we are pretending guess who will be blamed for making it up?” Betty finished, pointing at herself before folding her arms over her chest and frowning at Daniel. Daniel noticed she wasn’t wearing a bra, and had to fight to keep his eyes off that area.  
  
“yeah, well I think she might have thought otherwise, with that display in the bathroom.”  
  
“what?” Betty seemed almost outraged, and Daniel laughed at her.  
  
“you said, really loudly, ‘take off your clothes’,” Daniel laughed again and Betty turned over so that her back was facing Daniel.  “you know, everyone is supposed to think we are together!” Daniel insisted, before he said goodnight and they both fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post the first five chapters since I have already published it on LiveJournal, and are currently (on LiveJournal) posting another story, which I want to post on here too! It is quite hard coordinating the posts, so sorry if updates are irregular.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own ugly Betty!

Daniel woke up to the sound of someone hammering on the door, and he stumbled out of bed, forgetting that he was only partially dressed. He wasn’t in the best of moods, having been woken up when he was having a wonderful, erotic dream about his assistant who was cuddled against  
him. but the minute he opened the door a delighted and shocked scream came out.  
  
“oh my god! Marc, they totally did it!” came the thrilled shout of Amanda- after she had finished screaming. Daniel covered his ears and glared at her.  
  
“Amanda, did you have to deafen me? because I thought you already knew about me and Betty?” he asked, not wanting to tell the truth for Betty’s sake, but also ignoring her request to not spread more rumours.  
  
“I thought it was just wild speculation- which me and marc started…” Daniel pushed her out of the room, while he pulled the door to, not wanting to wake Betty, and forgetting he was still in her underwear.   
  
“Amanda! Why would you start rumours like that?”  
  
“because, Betty is obviously madly in love with you,” Amanda said frankly, twirling a piece of hair around her finger and grinning delightedly. It was a repeat of the Renee situation, only Amanda hadn’t been declared as crazy, she just was, only this time he didn’t feel as if it was so far-fetched, Amanda had lived with Betty and worked with Betty, instead of meeting with her a few times.  
  
“okay, that is ridiculous. Me and Betty spoke about it, after the whole… Renee thing. She doesn’t even have a crush on me!” Daniel tried to justify. Amanda tilted her head like she always did when she knew Daniel wasn’t quite getting to the truth. He looked at her and recognised her facial expression. “does she?” he squeaked out.  
  
“don’t forget I lived with her and I could hear her in her sleep,” Amanda raised her eyebrows and Daniel tried to ignore the spurt of uncontrollable excitement in him; he tried to tell himself that he didn’t know why he was excited by that statement. He was crushing on molly. End of. But he couldn’t help be reminded of his dreams for the woman who was in the bed he had just vacated, and his mind… and other parts of him didn’t seem to register that he wasn’t supposed to feel like that about Betty, especially when the dream had taken a turn for the more explicit.  
  
“okay, enough with the wild speculation,” he tried to go back but Amanda grabbed hold of his arm and lowered her voice, looking into his eyes.  
“do you love her?” she asked, releasing her hold on his arm.   
  
“yes,” he could say he did. He definitely loved Betty as a friend, and had told her so… but other than that he didn’t know what he felt. it was okay to have crushes on people like molly and pine over them because he didn’t know them. He could risk the relationships with whoever’s heart he broke by thinking not with his brain. Because they weren’t the heart of the one person who meant more to him than anyone, and he would break her heart and he just couldn’t do that. He couldn’t think that way about Betty, it wouldn’t be appropriate, he was playboy Daniel Meade, and she was sweet, innocent Betty who got him coffee and glared at him when he screwed up- yet would do everything in her power to make it all right for him. he couldn’t love her like that because she deserved so much more, and he had to ignore her turning into this beautiful, confident, businesswoman in front of his eyes because someone else might see what he had and she would be gone from his life.  
  
Amanda gave him a shy smile and patted him on the shoulder before he walked back into the room, too immersed in the intense battle between what his head said was wrong but his heart knew was right, when he walked in on Betty changing. She had her tee shirt over her head and was trying to put it on, leaving her lacy black bra that could barely contain her ample breasts into his line of vision. He froze and was sure if he had been holding something now would be the time to drop it. he found the whole of his body warming up and couldn’t look away before the physical reaction took a hold of him, before Betty pulled her shirt over her head and jumped.  
  
“DANIEL! What the hell are you doing, why are you watching me?” she quietened down to yell/whisper the last part, as she stomped over to the bed.  
  
“I erm, um…” he shut the door and tried to form a coherent sentence, but was slightly distracted by Betty’s glare.   
  
“your suit is dry, and hanging up in the bathroom.” She pulled on another top over the t-shirt and looked down at her bare feet. As soon as Daniel had retrieved his suit and gotten changed in the clothes he brought with him he looked at Betty.  
  
“so are you coming to breakfast?” he asked, having had a very cold shower to cool off after Betty’s little display, he quickly glanced at her legs, which were still clad in bunny pyjamas.   
  
“erm… well I have no other clothes apart from what I am wearing that are dry,” she pointed to the damp skirt that was hanging up. Wool didn’t dry off quickly, which was a little unfortunate as that was all Betty had to wear from the day before, well, apart from her bunny pyjamas.  
“right, why don’t you put on a coat for breakfast and we can go and get you some clothes,”  
  
“people will see my pyjamas; they already make fun of me at MODE.” She sighed and flopped back on the bed, her hair strewn out prettily on the pillow. He stood over her, looking intently at her face, still flushed from embarrassment.   
  
“no one will care, if you sit on my lap?” Daniel said, an idea forming in his mind, Betty looked at him as if he was crazy and shook her head, before outstretching her arms to reach Daniel so he could pull her upright.  
  
“no, why would I do that? I thought we didn’t want to start any more rumours?” Betty sniffed and glared at him.  
  
“I know, but Betty no one would be looking at your legs if you were on my lap.” Daniel reasoned and Betty nodded slightly, seeing his logic, but still feeling a little uncomfortable with it all. She didn’t want to be seen in public like that, since it would just confirm all the gossip and rumours that had been flying around since Betty started to work with Daniel.  
  
“okay, fine, just can I go shopping later?”  
  
“okay, for new clothes?” Daniel asked, putting the pieces together.  
  
“yes, since my skirt is still wet and I cannot wear my bunny pyjamas everywhere,” she said and brushed her hair out. Daniel smiled, he could incorporate this into the makeover idea, so that no one would recognise her when she had her hair styled differently and Betty wasn’t wearing polka dots, and stripes and frills- all on the same outfit. He wanted everyone to stop being so rude to her and making snide comments. He wouldn’t care if people accused him of sleeping with Betty, he didn’t mind. He was honoured to be thought of having a relationship for someone as wonderful and sweet and loving as Betty. But he hated the things people called her, and by now they both knew that the fashion world wouldn’t change so maybe it would be easier if her outside appearance did.   
  
“why did you wear baby duck pyjamas?” he asked, but smiled at her legs appreciatively- even though she tucked the large coat further over her legs, before frowning at Daniel.  
  
“because I didn’t realise I was going to be delayed, and they are cute. Who doesn’t like bunnies?” Betty asked, smiling before she swept out of the door. Luckily since it was breakfast no one was dressed smartly, without perhaps the exception of Wilhelmina, but not quite as casually as Betty. Who became increasingly uncomfortable with the stares directed at her and Daniel.   
  
Daniel pulled Betty aside when they got to their table, and gently held her by the shoulders, trying to look reassuring.  
  
“you know they aren’t staring because of your pyjama bottoms, but because you and me are together,” betty rolled her eyes, she wasn’t that stupid, of course she knew that is why all eyes were on them, her pyjamas didn’t help either.   
  
Daniel sat down and pulled a disgruntled Betty into his lap, which wasn’t the smartest idea, especially with the little display that morning and with the object of his affection wriggling on his lap it wasn’t helping him. he found the room getting very warm and he gulped, before catching Betty around her waist to try and get her to keep still.  
  
“Betty, please keep still!” he whispered into her ear, already feeling uncomfortable.  
  
“can you take your cell phone out of your pocket first, it is really uncomfortable?” she asked, while Daniel cleared his throat.   
“that isn’t my phone Betty,” he whispered into her ear again.  
  
“what is it? – 0h!” Daniel could tell she was blushing, without having to look at her face. his mother came over to them with an amused look on her face, especially as Daniel looked as if he was about to lose control and Betty was still blushing.   
  
“so how are you two doing? Enjoy the room I got you?” Daniel could tell his mother didn’t fully believe them, considering it had been her idea for keeping Betty out of the eyeline of the press. He knew Betty had told his mother earlier, but she didn’t want to let their fake romance go.  
  
“yes, thanks mom. Didn’t you have one with a couch?” Daniel asked, guessing that his mother had already guessed, she just wanted to humour him.  
  
“why isn’t the bed enough for you, because I don’t want reports of you enjoying ‘outdoor activities’ again,” she smirked even more when she said that, enjoying Betty’s shocked reaction.   
  
“mom!” Daniel replied, but couldn’t think of credible excuse in time so he just huffed.  
  
“dear, don’t be shy. Betty is a lovely girl and I lost the bet against your sister, she said it would take sooner, however I didn’t think you would get your head out of your ass so soon Daniel!” Claire said, smiling at her son, who turned an alarming shade of beetroot. He was used to his mom being a bit blunt, and sometimes rude when it came to his stupidity, but to make a bet about him and Betty. “don’t you know that practically the whole office had a bet, even henry.” She grinned at him, and handed over him and Betty a cup of coffee.   
  
Neither him or Betty looked at each other for the remainder of breakfast, and Betty waited until Daniel had calmed down to move off of his lap.  
“so, are you going to tell me where this shop is, because I am starting to feel really out of place in these pyjamas.” She tugged at the coat she was wearing and Daniel grinned. She didn’t know how adorable she actually was.  
  
“yes, it is only a few miles down the road and we had to call a town car here anyway, go put on the damp skirt and come with me,” he tugged on her hand. When they got to the store, it wasn’t anything special. It wasn’t even that expensive being in the middle of the countryside and all. Daniel looked disdainfully at the clothes on the rack, picking the limp arms up. He couldn’t find anything that looked remotely Betty-ish. Betty had already picked a few items up.   
  
She handed him a few tops, in very neutral colours and even a couple of pairs of jeans, she saw Daniel looking at the clothes, nonplussed, knowing that Betty normally, if ever didn’t wear things like this, which were tight jeans and a top that looked quite low cut.  
  
“before you ask, I had an idea… I thought since the press would be hounding me when I got back to queens I could get some different types of clothes and maybe change my hair a bit.” She saw him looking at her quizzically and she took off her scratched up glasses.  “and maybe some new glasses?” she looked at him hopefully. Daniel nodded eagerly. He wanted to do this, so Betty wouldn’t be as noticeable, however coming from him that sounded very much like a criticism.  
  
“yeah, of course! Good idea, even though the picture the press got a hold of Amanda had photoshopped a moustache onto your face,” he grinned and Betty put her head in her hands.  
  
“she did! That is so typical, but maybe these clothes- unless you wanted to pick something out for me?” Daniel looked at the clothes, the jeans weren’t bad, but the rest of them were in beige. Betty wouldn’t be Betty without a pop of colour though. He rushed around the shop, getting her a white sweater with red stripes across the chest and a willow pattern long sleeve shirt, and a deep blue A-line dress. He held them up to her and smiled.  
  
“you still need to look like you, I don’t think I could handle seeing you in beige!” Daniel grinned and Betty rolled her eyes as she went into the changing room. he stood outside, noticing the woman behind the counter eyeing him rather appreciatively. But he was distracted as soon as he heard the sound of her clothes hitting the floor. He desperately tried not to think of that morning, where he saw Betty in most of her glory, or the night before, where she was just wearing a towel, all dewy and wet from the shower… he was trying to not feel his breathing speed up, and to feel suddenly really warm in the air-conditioned shop. She stepped out in the dress and grinned at him, looking amazing, especially since she was wearing her heels, without socks too.  
  
“wow, you look…” Daniel breathed out softly, and gently spun Betty around to get a full view. It was easy to forget that this beautiful woman was here, and she was his best friend.   
  
“I know, I look really weird,” she sighed and plucked at the tight dress, but Daniel rolled his eyes.  
  
“no- I was going to say you look great,” Daniel said, and spun her again, causing her to giggle and clutch hold of his shoulders.  
  
“thank you Daniel.” she said politely, once she had stopped laughing. She knew Daniel was saying it out of curtesy, and that was the sort of thing you said to elderly relatives, not people you were interested in.  
  
“that’s okay, what about the other sweater?” he asked and Betty shook her head a bit, pointing to a low cut black blouse instead and kept the long sleeve shirt.  
  
“that will look really good Betty,” he sighed, trying to distract attention from his mind wandering to imagine Betty in that blouse. She smiled weakly and went to change into it, coming out somewhat nervously. Daniel watched her as she came out of the dressing room. the blouse looked amazing. It was a bit tighter on the top and a bit lower cut than Daniel had expected. He whistled slowly and for the first-time Betty actually blushed in this little trip.  
  
“wow, Betty… what about the other top?”  
  
“I do like that one, it is more…”  
  
“you?” Daniel offered, smiling at her in her new clothes. The jeans were a little tighter than what she normally wore, but highlighted her curves like nothing else she owned, which made it a bit more difficult for Daniel to ignore what was going on under there. She nodded happily and twirled slightly in it, causing Daniel to grin. They got back to the lodge and Betty ran upstairs to change, narrowly bumping into Amanda.  
Amanda flew backwards and looked as if she was about to yell something bitchy, but then stopped when she saw it was Betty.  
  
“oh hey Betty, wow did your lover get you some clothes?” she asked, not saying it sarcastically this time. Betty gulped and knew word must have spread, only how did Amanda know?   
  
“erm…” Betty stuttered, not really sure how to respond to that.  
  
“he must really love you, a straight man buying you clothes? All her ever bought me was jewellery and that was once after our first time together,” her expression softened and Amanda looked at Betty, before patting her on the shoulder and sauntering off. Betty knew Amanda probably got the information through the rumour mill, but she didn’t know where she got the conception of Daniel being in love with her because Betty knew that Amanda and marc were the ones normally starting the rumours, and all she had heard people say about them was that why on earth would Daniel go for someone like her.  
  
She didn’t mind, it was to be expected since she knew that she couldn’t compare to the model’s and sexpots of Daniel’s past. She wasn’t trying to… right? You could convince yourself that it didn’t mean anything, because it was all because Daniel had a crush on the CFO’s fiancée, and he needed her to make molly jealous. And it seemed to be working, with the accusations molly had made of her and Daniel faking the relationship (she might have been in a different room, but she wasn’t deaf) and the dirty looks she shot at Betty, every time Daniel tried to pretend about their relationship.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own ugly Betty!

Betty got dressed in front of the mirror, marvelling at how jeans flattered her figure, and tracing the blue swirls on the top. She brushed her hair behind her shoulder, noticing how her bangs did stay swept to the side, but if they got longer she would have to pin them back. She was just playing with her hair when Daniel walked in.   
  
“hey, Betty! Wow, you look great! I like your hair like that!” he said eagerly, surveying her from all angles in the mirror, his exuberance masked the feeling of warmth to his face and collar when he saw how beautiful she looked.  
  
“thanks… Daniel,” she said nervously and straightened her top in front of the mirror, contemplating whether or not she should tell Daniel about the vicious rumours circulating. She didn’t mind if people thought they were in love, because Daniel himself had initiated it, and spreading rumours about love wasn’t a bad thing. But when they called Betty a gold digger and said Daniel was only doing it for a bet. She had heard a vast array of rumours just walking to the room.   
  
“I have some work stuff to do, do you want to help?”  
  
“I am your assistant, I have to do it!” she giggled, at his forgetfulness. His expression clouded and was unreadable.  
  
“no, while we are here you are my girlfriend so you are relieved of assistant duties.” He replied and Betty laughed, although his voice sounded sad.  
  
  
They went downstairs to the main seating area, and worked in front of the grand fireplace, Daniel shuffling papers over to Betty, who was writing down ideas feverishly. He looked over her shoulder and smiled, as she was too immersed to concentrate on his snooping. He looked around and saw molly coming into the room, and considering what she had said yesterday about suspecting he and Betty were not together, maybe it was time to do some acting.  
  
“so Betty…” he could see molly got delayed by someone and wasn’t coming quite as quickly.  
  
“yes?” she didn’t look up from her work, and so Daniel took her glasses off her face, “Daniel! I need those to see, give them back!” she said, and tried to reach for them, but he held them out of her reach.  
  
“you said you could get some new ones, I wanted to see what would suit your face,” Daniel turned her head towards him, and was surprised at how Betty grumbled a bit but did what he asked, not getting what he was planning to do. He saw molly approaching, and he gently shifted closer to Betty, cupping her face while she giggled, thinking he was simply trying to see about her glasses, that is why she jolted when he placed his lips on hers.   
  
Betty didn’t know what was going on, and was about to push Daniel away if it hadn’t been for the spark between them, wanting to make her continue, she did and so did Daniel- almost subconsciously. He slid his hands so that they rested on her waist and she moaned into the kiss, which spurred him on, slipping her tongue inside her mouth. Betty was very close to sitting on Daniel’s lap at this point and wasn’t comprehending what was happening. Her mind was telling her to stop, as Daniel shouldn’t be doing that, no matter how serious a fake relationship they were in.  
  
“mmm, Daniel- I,” she managed to moan into the kiss, before a squeak interrupted them, they both spun around at hearing the noise, Daniel looking immensely smug and Betty looking as if she didn’t know what she was doing with herself, also in shock.  
  
Molly stood there, her eyebrows raised while Betty hastened to correct her clothes, as Daniel had gotten a little adventurous with his hands, while Daniel cleared his throat and grinned at molly.  
  
“are you okay molly, I was just… working?” he said, his tone filled with innuendo as he looked over at Betty, and thought back to the kiss he enjoyed… very much. He didn’t expect to feel so turned on by that kiss, but he was only a while away from panting and pretty sure he was flushed.  
  
“right… well, me and Connor were wondering whether you guys would like to go for a walk in the woods, Connor said it was one of the exercises, but since you guys are a couple you might like to come with us?” she sounded hopeful. Daniel nodded without asking Betty, who looked furious when he agreed.  
  
“yeah, that sounds great, Betty wanted to do some team building stuff, didn’t you?” he asked and molly’s expression soured and Betty looked around her eyes wide. As much as she wanted to do those kinds of activities she didn’t want to get to do them as a courtesy of being Daniel’s pretend girlfriend, if only he dated a woman with half a brain she would get to go far in whatever industry she wanted.  
  
“sure, when is it?”  
  
“we are going in about ten minutes, meet us in the foyer,” molly instructed, her voice sharper than it was before and she walked out of the room. Daniel nodded, seeing how he could imagine it. Betty and Connor would be able to talk about work stuff since half the time he thought that she would be better suited to his job, while he could talk to molly. She and him had really connected the other day.   
  
They got to the foyer and walked across the green lawns, Betty wearing her fluffy boots that she convinced him to buy when they went shopping earlier, while Daniel was dithering, glaring at his own Prada brogues.  
  
“Daniel, why did you wear such expensive shoes?” Betty asked, when they had just reached the entrance and Daniel jumped slightly to avoid a patch of mud.  
  
“I didn’t have anything else, but your boots are cute,” he smiled down at her, her feet were so tiny compared to his and she blushed and smiled at him.  
  
“yes, they are practical too, unlike yours because you insisted on wearing Prada,” she shot him a disapproving look and he chuckled, walking faster to keep up with Connor and molly. When they were all walking beside each other Connor turned to Daniel, and smiled.  
  
“so, do you have any ideas to increase revenue? Because we cannot cut MODE, since it is the flagship however we could come up with some cost saving initiatives?” Connor asked and Daniel shrugged, however grabbed Betty by the shoulders and pushed her in front of him.   
  
“I don’t know, but Betty has some ideas,”  
  
“go for it Betty,” Connor said and molly fell into step with Daniel.  
  
“well, you know how most sales are digitally, I wondered if we could do a tie in with an online version of MODE.” When she saw, Connor staring at her she blushed and turned her head away, looking around for Daniel however he was further behind, “I mean, it is probably stupid, and I haven’t even spoken to Daniel or Wilhelmina about it, and-,” Connor smiled at her, and seemed happy with her suggestion.  
  
“no, I like it. it is outside the box, and I have heard you have saved Daniel on a few occasions, so maybe I could talk to Daniel and Wilhelmina about it?” Betty grinned, they could possibly use one of her ideas? She was moments away from jumping up and down when she was excited but Daniel noticed the warning signs of a peppiness overload and walked over.  
  
“hey, baby- did you have a good idea?” Daniel asked, and Betty was momentarily shocked by him calling her that, as she forgot in her excitement.  
  
“yeah, Betty did. She hadn’t told you about it though, wasn’t that right Betty?” Betty blushed, thrilled Connor had actually liked her idea, considering it was a big change.  
  
“yeah, well I had other information to do with it, such as through online polls to find parts of our key demographic in relation to certain articles and readership for them,” she blathered on and Daniel nodded, not quite sure what was going on.  
  
“I am sure Daniel needs a break from all that boring business stuff, since he was working all morning,” molly said and held onto his elbow, as Daniel nearly slipped in the mud again. Betty eyed them suspiciously as she kept walking and Daniel followed after molly. She didn’t know why there was the curl of jealousy in her stomach, but it only reflected the look in Connor’s eyes.  
  
“molly, sweetie… I know you wanted a vacation, but we can have one when the retreat is over. remember, molly, we are going to Cobo soon, but this retreat is about business and Betty here had a wonderful idea that I think would be very beneficial to MODE, and although I do have the rights to not consult Daniel and Wilhelmina this is a big change and Betty is Daniel’s girlfriend.” Connor responded, looking at molly with a look of guilt on his face. molly looked sullen, and Betty felt triumphant for a moment.  
  
“okay, so what was your idea Betty?” Daniel asked, sighing and moving away from molly.  
  
“since we need to find money, I thought we could increase ad sales in MODE, by doing an online version,”  
  
“we don’t have extra money to print?” Daniel interrupted, but Betty continued.  
  
“no, we wouldn’t do anything requiring printing, just something online,” Daniel looked at Betty in surprise. It was a big change and all he and Wilhelmina had thought about were small changes, however they had never considered something that drastic, they hadn’t even considered a paid subscription to MODE-NY.com.  
  
“wow, Betty… that is really a big change, but that is a good idea,” he said, looking quite shocked at how big of a deal it was to her.  
  
“you really think so? I was worried it was too far-fetched or too much work,” Betty said and tried to walk slightly in front of them, trying to look at Daniel’s face, however slipped on a patch of mud and nearly fell backwards if it wasn’t for Daniel catching her, with an amused look on his face.  
  
“and I was the one thinking I was going to fall over, and no it wasn’t too much- it sounds drastic… but I think drastic is what MODE needs,” he said, grinning. He righted Betty, who smiled at him shakily, feeling an onslaught of butterflies in her stomach at Daniel’s touch.  
  
  
They got back to the hotel, where Betty and Daniel went up to their room, and sat in front of the television, Betty with a grin that stretched across her face and Daniel looked as if something awful had happened. Betty had spoked to Connor briefly before he agreed to have a meeting when they got back between her and Wilhelmina, Connor neglecting to mention about Betty’s own forays into the media and increasing the sales by becoming tornado girl.  
  
Betty flipped on the television channel and turned to the movie section, she looked over at Daniel who didn’t look around at her.  
  
“Daniel, what do you want to watch, an action movie?” she asked and Daniel knew that Betty was in a good mood since she normally forced him into watching a romantic comedy, or worse- something Disney.  
  
“I don’t mind, it is up to you,” he said sullenly looking at his fingers, which were folded over his lap as they reclined on the bed, and Betty switched the television to some romantic comedy.  
  
“Daniel, what is going on? you were fine when we went for that walk, did you not like my idea?” she asked, looking stricken. Daniel shook his head and looked at Betty, before taking in a deep breath.  
  
“molly kissed me,” he said finally, and looked away with a look of mournfulness on his face. despite every fibre of Betty saying that was an awful thing to happen, she didn’t know why Daniel would think so; he had a crush on molly- it would surely be good that he kissed her, despite her being the fiancée of the CFO.  
  
“well… didn’t you want that to happen?”  
  
“I did, but she has been with Connor romantically for over four years, and then all of a sudden she kisses me? maybe you were wrong?”   
  
“about what?” now Betty was confused, and she didn’t know why Daniel was so upset. Yes, it may be a bit rash of molly to jeopardise her relationship with Connor for someone she just met- but Daniel could do that to a woman. He would just turn on the charm and woman would practically fall into his lap. It even worked on her, not that he had ever tried that on Betty.  
  
“that she wasn’t the type to break an engagement to run after the world’s biggest playboy,”  
  
“I didn’t say that… New York’s maybe,” Betty giggled, but saw that Daniel was still upset and breathed out heavily. Daniel was so confusing sometimes, it was like he wanted something to happen, but when he did it usually ended in disappointment.  
  
“well, she did. And I don’t know what to do, I thought I really liked her but if she could just drop everything for me and she doesn’t even know everything about me, she doesn’t know I am allergic to that medicine I cannot pronounce, and she doesn’t know that I only have nine toes,” Daniel finished his mini rant and glared at Betty, as if it was somehow her fault.   
  
“I don’t know what to say Daniel, did she say anything though?”  
  
“she said that we seemed to have chemistry and Connor was always busy with work and he was flirting with you right in front of her…” now it was Betty’s turn to scoff. As if that would happen! It was one thing for Daniel to pretend to date her because she was the nearest woman around, but it was another thing for someone like Connor Owens to hit on her.  
  
“yeah right! Molly was probably just jealous because he wanted to talk about business and so she went after you, as long as you didn’t turn on your charms then I think it was her doing,” Betty took a sip of her drink which they had ordered from room service along with a bowl of popcorn.  
  
“my charms? As in hit on her? I wouldn’t do that, she is engaged, and she came onto me!” Daniel insisted in a way that made Betty suspicious,  
  
“anyway… irrelevant of that what did you do after,”  
  
“I… erm,” Daniel once again looked at his lap and refused to meet her gaze. “well I maybe told her I was in love with you,” Daniel responded, he didn’t know why he did that, but it felt right- also molly had been convinced by him and Betty that they were in fact together. Surprisingly Betty didn’t seem that mad about that and tilted her head thoughtfully.   
  
“well that would make sense, considering that we are supposed to be in a committed relationship, and molly was the one who was supposed to know that- just don’t say that to anyone else because we will probably end up on fashion buzz.” She sighed and plucked at the quilt on the bed, Daniel didn’t know how he was going to tell Betty about telling Amanda that- especially since it was the truth.   
  
“okay, as long as you aren’t mad,” he whispered and then felt the sudden urge to kiss her, she looked so beautiful and she just forgave him, but Daniel’s better sense of protecting his face from her slapping him made him tilt his head and kissed her on the cheek. they settled down to watch the movie, with Daniel’s arm around Betty’s shoulders as she rested on his chest and was asleep before the movie was over.   
  
He put her gently down on the bed, when a knock sounded at the door. He gently kissed her forehead, and brushed the hair away from her eyes after taking off her glasses and went to answer it. molly was there… again!  
  
“molly! Hi,” he said as she nervously bit her lip and leant against the door frame.  
  
“Hi Daniel,”   
  
“why are you here, it is nine at night? I thought you would be with Connor?” Daniel asked, and molly shook her head.  
  
“Wilhelmina wanted him to do something, but I needed to talk to you as well… I haven’t stopped thinking about that kiss earlier Daniel, have you thought about it?” she asked, seeming coy and shy. Daniel felt uneasy, molly was engaged and mad at Connor for doing work stuff, Wilhelmina was notorious for forcing people to work.  
  
“I… um, you’re engaged, molly,” he replied and looked away from her to see Betty sleeping.  
  
“I know, but Connor is always busy with work and I think he is sleeping with Wilhelmina- why shouldn’t we date?” Daniel was conflicted, half of him wanted to jump on her offer since he still had an outstanding crush on the woman. But his better half- that had the voice of Betty when she was at her most disapproving told him it wasn’t a good idea. She was Connor’s fiancée and as much as he knew how much cheating wrecked homes he wasn’t going to help molly do that just to get back at Connor, also saying that if she gave up on the man so quickly after four years then how would he fare. He wanted a future, not another brainless fling.  
  
“that isn’t a good enough reason and I haven’t thought about it, I have been too… busy,” he said, trying to load his tone with innuendo. Molly looked between him and Betty sceptically  
  
“really? She doesn’t look like she has done anything of the sort!” she said, screwing up her nose at Betty’s adorable form.  
  
“molly, it isn’t your business what I do with my girlfriend, but I don’t need you commenting on it. and before you ask, I did tell Betty about the kiss,” he said before he slammed the door in molly’s face. he leant against it, wondering why on earth he had done that, he didn’t often turn away women who were ready to embark on a relationship with him… but it didn’t feel right, when he kissed her he didn’t feel the sparks he did when he pecked Betty on the cheek.  
  
“that was really brave,” came the gentle sound of Betty’s voice from the other end of the room.  
  
“you think?” Daniel wandered over to the bed and sat on the other side where Betty was sitting.  
  
“yeah, I do- you are an amazing person Daniel and it took guts to do that, especially since she practically offered herself to you on a silver platter. You made the right decision,” Betty beamed at him.  
  
“thanks Betty, you know my subconscious kind of sounds like you,” Daniel grinned in response and pulled the sheets back and got into their bed, waiting for Betty to do the same.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own ugly Betty!

The last day went off without a hitch and they made it back into the city safely, with Daniel dropping an exhausted Betty off at her house in queens. He was somewhat disappointed to know they couldn’t continue with the charade.  
  
He opened his eyes to look around his empty loft, compared to the grandeur of their hotel suite. He was woken up by something else apart from the late summer light through his windows. There were at least two phones ringing.   
  
He grabbed his mobile and answered it quickly, flipping open the screen and staring at the image of Betty, who was ringing.  
“Betty?” he asked blearily into his mobile.  
  
“Daniel! I need some help!” her panicked voice came through and Daniel shot up in his bed.  
  
“what is it? are you okay?” he frantically asked, cradling his phone in his hands as if it was Betty herself and he could protect her.  
  
“the paparazzi! They are stalking me and someone put my phone number on a website about enemies of the heartland, someone told me I should go kill myself this morning,” she sounded as if she was in tears.  
  
“where are you now?” Daniel asked, feeling awful that he managed to let Wilhelmina convince him to still send it to print.  
  
“at home, I didn’t have time for the makeover but I think it might be needed, please help,”  
  
“I’m on my way,” Daniel assured her and threw on some pants and a jacket before getting his town car to queens. When he got there the press were moving about through the streets, but Betty and her family had avoided leaving the house and he pulled up his hood before running into her kitchen via the side entrance.  
  
Betty flew into his arms and hugged him the minute he got in with her face red and tear stained, she had been crying.  
  
“Daniel! I am so glad you came, thank you!” she said, crying still as she led Daniel into her living room. she sat on the couch as her phone rung, she answered it and made a face.  
  
“that is disgusting, not to mention psychically impossible,” she said before hanging up and burying her face in a cushion. Daniel sat next to her on the couch and rubbed her back as she still cried into the cushion. He noticed she was still wearing her pyjamas and didn’t have any underwear on, and he couldn’t think of anything else at that moment, although he really should have when his best friend was crying on the couch next to him.   
  
“I am really sorry Betty,” he whispered to her and Betty sat up and leaned back in his arms.  
  
“it is okay, I am stupid for crying, though I haven’t had anyone tell me to kill myself before,” Betty sighed and Daniel kissed her on the forehead again, glad that her family weren’t around to laugh at them. She looked at him strangely and pulled away from his grip.  
  
“Daniel, why do you keep doing that?” she asked and Daniel shrugged, before hunching off his jacket and before he could stop himself he said some of what he had been thinking for the last few hours.  
  
“you are upset, and it is one place I can kiss you without being slapped,” he said leaning back against her couch, while Betty’s eyes went comically wide behind her glasses.   
  
“what? You want to- what?” she stuttered, getting up from the couch and standing in front of Daniel.  
  
“kiss you? because the one that we shared was quite hot,” he admitted, blushing. Betty was stunned, she didn’t think she had ever seen Daniel blush before and Daniel wanted to do what? She must be dreaming because there was no way Daniel Meade would want to do that, except if he was trying to fend some woman off.  
  
“okay, Daniel I don’t really see how this is-,” she didn’t know what she was going to say before Daniel pulled her onto his lap and kissed her, like he had wanted to for months. At first Betty tried to pull away half-heartedly but was only held tighter in Daniel’s grasp as his hands were on her hips and his tongue sought entrance into his mouth. The kiss was becoming hotter and hotter by the second, while Daniel was sure he wanted to feel the effect of Betty’s full lips on his forever.  
  
They only broke away when someone cleared their throat from the other side of the room, and Betty and Daniel broke apart to see Hilda raising her eyebrows. Daniel awkwardly cleared his throat and shifted so Betty wasn’t on his lap, however his hands still rested on her hips.  
  
“hi Hilda,” Daniel said awkwardly, the moment made even more awkward since he was pretty sure he was panting in response to his and Betty’s extremely hot kiss. She raised her eyebrows and pulled Betty into her salon, leaving Daniel looking forlorn and confused on the couch.  
  
“what the hell was that?” Hilda yelled/whispered at Betty.  
  
“what?” Betty shrugged her shoulders, even though it was obvious that Hilda could see all of what went on.  
  
“you know what! I saw you Betty, I do have these things called eyes,” Hilda rolled her eyes to go with her sarcastic tone, “why were you kissing Daniel?” she asked accusingly and Betty closed her eyes, hoping that Hilda would just disappear.   
  
“I didn’t kiss him, he kissed _me_!” Betty tried to stress that point but Hilda only raised her eyebrows at her sister.  
  
“I don’t care, you looked like you were kissing him back- and enjoying it!”  
  
“so, what if I was, me and Daniel are both adults, I don’t see a problem with it!” Betty insisted bravely, although she still had no idea why Daniel had kissed her, they were just pretending to be together for the retreat and molly wasn’t even here. It was so sudden as well, one minute he had been rubbing her back and comforting her and then… he kissed her!  
  
“he is your boss!” Hilda yelled again and Betty frowned at her.  
  
“that hasn’t stopped Daniel before, and why does that matter?”  
  
“would you listen to yourself? ‘why does it matter?’ it does because he is your boss, and a millionaire and you are his assistant! and he is such a playboy, he would break your heart”  
  
“shut up and do my hair, I don’t need your criticism, it isn’t my fault that Daniel kissed me,” Betty turned around in the chair and motioned to her hair, when Daniel walked in.  
  
“have you finished talking about me?” he asked and walked over to where Hilda was standing. Betty nodded, feeling guilty about some of the things Hilda said, mainly because she agreed with some of them. Daniel was a womaniser, and he had broken more people’s hearts than Betty had met, and she was totally terrified that Daniel would set his sights on her and then leave Betty with a broken heart. But he wasn’t the same person, he had changed, he even resisted molly’s advances.   
  
“yeah, anyway, Daniel- what do you think I should do for Betty’s new look?” Hilda asked.  
  
“I don’t know if I can say that? I mean, it isn’t my decision,” Daniel stuttered, not wanting to offend Betty. He thought she was beautiful and he wouldn’t change her if he could… but sometimes change was unavoidable.  
  
“you can and you will- you are the editor in chief of MODE, you are more than qualified to do so. I need tips, I can do the make-up, but what about her hair?” Hilda said, playing with the frizzy strands of Betty’s long hair.  
  
“erm, maybe straighten it, and your bangs are in your eyes Betty- maybe pin them back?” Daniel tentatively asked, gently brushing Betty’s hair away from her head.  
  
“that might work?” Hilda said, as if it was a revelation, although she had been thinking the same thing, but knew Betty would never agree if she said that, but coincidently anything Daniel asked Betty to do she would be more than happy to oblige. Hilda straightened Betty’s hair and pinned her bangs to the side of her face. Betty’s hair was really long and Hilda even slightly curled the ends, the finished product being sleek and shiny. Hilda put some mascara on Betty, as well as plucked at her eyebrows and shoved Betty out to Daniel.  
  
Daniel’s eyes went wide, he could see Betty’s face properly since Hilda had done something with the removal of her glasses, and it was weird how different Betty looked without the bangs, and glasses. No one would recognise her.  
  
“wow, Betty… you look- great,” was all Daniel could manage out before Betty gave him a winning smile.  
  
“thank you, I would look in a mirror, but I can’t see!” Betty said moodily, and turned around to glare at the blurry outline of Hilda.  
  
“aye, chica- don’t worry, we will get you some new ones, or better yet some contacts! The press won’t be able to recognise you!” Hilda grinned and Betty looked somewhat sheepish, but sat next to Daniel on her couch.  
  
“do you really think this is a good idea?” Betty asked, feeling out of place with Daniel staring at her wolfishly. When she finally managed to get, a hand-held mirror she was surprised, she didn’t look like her. she looked like someone completely different. She didn’t know whether she liked it or not, especially since now she had concerns that Daniel only seemed interested because of her transformation.  
  
“I do, since the press won’t have a clue who is actually stepping out of the building and people may start being nicer to you at MODE,” Betty seemed angered by this, and put her hands on either side of her head, being tutted at by Hilda for doing so since it would mess up her make-up.  
  
“I don’t want them to be nicer to me because of that, I want to change that! Why should people just be nicer because I look different?” she was about to go on a rant when Daniel interrupted by placing his hand on her thigh.  
  
“Betty, we have already been over this. those people aren’t going to change, so if you want their respect you are going to have to. You are beautiful, but people only care about what someone else tells them to think. I know Amanda respects you,”  
  
“she doesn’t!” Betty snorted, and Daniel patted her leg to try and reassure her.  
  
“she does, unfortunately her version of respect is different, since she trusts you, otherwise she wouldn’t live with you and she wouldn’t do all that crazy stuff- like stealing all your food,”  
  
“I don’t see how that is respecting me,” Betty grumbled and Daniel laughed.  
  
“fine, maybe not respect as much as being your friend, Amanda expects friends to be her slaves, she does it with marc as well.”  
  
“huh, me and Amanda- friends? I never thought of that,” Betty said sarcastically while Daniel rolled his eyes at her.  
  
“anyway, we will go and get you some new glasses and some more clothes, because as much as I love rainbows-,”  
  
“the press will know it is me way too quickly,” Betty covered and got up out of her chair, running up the stairs to go and get dressed. She came down wearing a form fitting yellow dress that he had never seen before.  
  
“wow, that looks lovely Betty, and why are you wearing socks?” Daniel asked, leering at Betty who blushed slightly and walked towards Daniel, slightly wobbly in the purple heels Hilda found. Justin came bounding down the stairs with a purple belt and an amethyst necklace.  
  
“here you go AB, mom, I borrowed your necklace because it suits AB better,” Justin followed his aunt down the stairs and put the belt on as well as securing the necklace around her neck.  
  
“erm, what? Why are you going through my jewellery?” Hilda said squaring up to Justin, who raised his eyebrows and darted out the front door, saying something about school.  
  
“Betty looked at herself in the mirror, Hilda had convinced her not to wear tights and instead heels, but Betty couldn’t help with the socks.  
  
“socks are comfortable, and why not?” Betty asked, as Daniel pulled her onto the sofa, while Hilda walked out of the living room and back into her salon as the phone rang again. Daniel pulled Betty’s foot into his lap and slipped off her heel and started taking off her socks. There was something so intimate about it that Betty’s breath hitched as Daniel’s too became increasingly shallow. He was surprised he could get so turned on by something so insignificant compared to his usual… activities. Daniel finished his task and pulled a pillow over his lap, while clearing his throat.  
  
“you’re done, can you walk?” he asked, helping Betty up, but remaining seated himself, Betty stumbled slightly in the heels but grinned before her face clouded over and she collapsed onto the couch next to him.  
  
“Daniel, why did you kiss me?” she asked, seeing the expression somewhere between guilt and hope on Daniel’s face.  
  
“I have wanted to do that for a really long time, and I thought that moment was a good time. it also distracted you,” Daniel reasoned, while Betty didn’t know how to react. They had spent the last few days pretending to be together, however it felt as if it had always been that way. They acted like an old married couple half the time.  
  
“thank you, for helping me stop crying,” Betty reiterated, and looked at her lap onto to feel Daniel’s hands cupping her cheeks. She suddenly felt his soft lips on hers again and her breath seemed to stop in her throat as he kissed her again, this time harder where there was definitely more passion. Before she knew it, she was lying on her back on the couch with Daniel’s arms intertwined around her waist as hers curled into fists in his short hair. When they broke apart Daniel grinned his crooked grin and softly kissed her again. Betty’s eyes were wide.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own ugly Betty!

“why did you do that?” she asked.  
  
“because you looked as if you were going to cry again,” he reasoned and Betty gulped. Daniel was obviously trying to seduce her, but why now? she pushed him away from her so that they were both sitting upright on the couch and Betty combed her fingers through her hair trying to correct it.   
  
“I wasn’t going to cry… and I am not talking about that. I am talking about the real reason you kissed me. you wouldn’t just kiss me because I’m me!”  
  
“Betty, that doesn’t matter what other people think of our relationship-,”  
  
“I’m not talking about other people!” she rounded on him angrily “I am talking about you- we have always just been friends and then suddenly we’re doing this!” she gestured between the both of them.  
  
“well Betty, I think maybe it is time to move on from friends,” Daniel bravely suggested. He knew why he was starting it now, and it didn’t have anything to do with Betty being ‘tornado girl’ or the makeover that her sister gave her. it was because Daniel really believed that he had a chance with Betty. She had seemed slightly jealous of molly when they were in the woods, and said he was an amazing person, and she had called him handsome before. he could work with that!  
  
“why now?”  
  
“I don’t know! Maybe I just felt it was the right time?” Daniel suggested, not wanting to tell her the real reasons he decided to just go ahead and kiss her, simply because he felt as if he had a chance.  
  
“you are being evasive Daniel,” Betty put on her ‘therapist’ voice and folded her arms over her chest.  
  
“fine! Urgh, I hate it that you know me so well,” he took a deep breath and prepared to get slapped. “I thought I had a chance,”  
  
“to do what? Sleep with me?”  
  
“no! not immediately, just have a shot with you… being in your life,” Daniel confessed.  
  
“why would you care about that? You are already in my life,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.   
  
“not in that way,” he leaned over to cup her face again “I want something more Betty, and I didn’t think I could have a chance with you,” Betty scoffed, he seemed sincere but ‘he didn’t think he could have a chance with her’ that was crap. He was Daniel freaking Meade!  
  
“Daniel, you could have any girl you wanted, why me?”  
  
“yeah, I could have any girl I wanted- why not you? and if you say anything mean about yourself I’ll… I will-,”  
  
“you will what?” the mood suddenly changed to flirty and she leant closer to him, her eyes blazing, even though she couldn’t see him properly without her glasses.  
  
“kiss you again,” Daniel breathed out.  
  
“what makes you think that would be a punishment?” Betty asked, trying to be seductive as she was inches away from Daniel’s face.  
  
“I don’t know,” he gently placed another kiss on her lips and Betty shifted again, taking more control over the kiss, but she couldn’t keep letting them get distracted by kissing each other. She pushed him away slightly, and sat up pursing her lips.  
  
“Daniel, we need to finish talking about this! you cannot just keep distracting me by kissing me,”  
  
“what! You came onto me first!” Daniel corrected and Betty frowned at him, bargaining his silence.  
  
“Anyway, I want to know why you didn’t think you had a chance with me, or whatever,”  
  
“because you are amazing too, you are so good and honest and so beautiful, and I’m not good enough for you,” Daniel said, turning his head away since he couldn’t bear the disappointment of being let down.  
  
“not good enough for me? what planet do you live on?” Betty asked.  
  
“well you are perfect and kind and do everything for others while I only think of myself.” Daniel insisted.  
  
“yeah, but I am not a model and I am not the daughter of some socialite or oligarch- my family isn’t rich in… stocks or property or…”  
  
“no, but you and your family are some of the kindest people I have ever met, Betty, and it doesn’t matter about money… all the others that wanted me were because of my looks of if there was a possibility to become a Meade,” he looked forlorn and Betty felt like wrapping her arms around him.  
  
“nevertheless, do you even find me attractive?” Betty asked, and Daniel thought it would be a good time to throw the pillow off his lap and gesture at the obvious evidence of his arousal. Betty went red in the face and stammered trying to look away. “but I have braces… and glasses,” she tried to come up with a credible excuse.   
  
“Betty, shush,” Daniel put his finger on her lips before kissing her again, feeling drugged by the heady feeling of kissing her.  “the reason why I chose until now is because you seemed jealous of molly, and you are so incredibly smart- you could have helped save MODE, maybe it is because we have both grown up so much since?” Daniel suggested and Betty kissed him, for herself this time.  
  
“okay,” she whispered.  
  
  
They got into work, via the same town car, under the cover of a coffee and a bagel. Betty was beaming with her new glasses back on her face which had red frames like her old ones, however a wider space for the lens, allowing Daniel to see her eyes more clearly. They spent the whole time in the town car whispering to each other and making out like a couple of teenagers.  
  
Betty walked up to her desk, seeing pictures of ‘tornado girl’ she was lucky that it was fashion buzz reporting and not the news as Suzuki made sure to bring the most unflattering images up of her. Daniel suddenly walked by and grabbed her arm before pulling her into his office, Betty righted herself, glaring at Daniel.  
  
“Daniel, ow! What was that for?” she asked angrily and Daniel looked at her in complete panic.  
  
“fashion buzz, are here, and they want to speak to you!” Daniel said, shutting the drapes to his office.   
  
“what? Have they recognised who I am, because I saw Suzuki walk past my desk and ask where Betty Suarez was.” Daniel laughed at that, and gently kissed Betty, while she leant against his desk.  
  
Suddenly the door flew open and a grimacing Wilhelmina walked in, her face showing nothing but disgust.   
  
“for god’s sake Daniel! we are having a major media crisis and you are having sex, now?”  
  
“I’m not having sex!” Daniel argued, moving away from Betty who blushed and looked at the floor.  
  
“Betty?” Wilhelmina asked, while Betty wondered how the news hadn’t reached her yet “I heard the rumours, but I thought marc was just trying to anger me with wild speculation again,” she sniffed and raised her eyebrows before beckoning Daniel after her. “we have to go and sort out this out before it fizzles out!” Wilhelmina said coldly and Daniel was whisked out of the room before Betty had a chance to ask why on earth Wilhelmina would want it to fizzle out, surely a PR disaster was a massive problem? Why did Wilhelmina want to prolong that then?  
  
  
Wilhelmina dragged marc into her office, while marc, normally happy to oblige (without force) to her little schemes was surprised with the level of urgency for the brewing of this little scheme.  
  
“willie? What is it?” marc straightened his jacket as Wilhelmina sat behind her desk, looking decidedly murderous.  
  
“Daniel…”  
  
“I thought our plans to overthrow him were simple since he is so dumb?” marc said, not disguising the hostility.   
  
“yes, well he is dumber than I thought! Stupid fool is seeing Betty,”  
  
“Daniel has feelings for the furry one?” marc thought that was just a rumour, that he started- or they were pretending. The only other indication that it was anything else was when he sent Amanda over to question Daniel she didn’t come back with any juicy news.  
  
“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know. They were doing… something in his office earlier and it is completely throwing off my plan,” Wilhelmina said. Marc was confused, with the number of plans and suspicious way Wilhelmina had been acting he hadn’t had a chance to ask what her newest scheme was.  
  
“what plan?” he asked, playing with his hands as he folded them over his chest.  
  
“I want Connor, and the only way to have that happen is to separate him from that mousy school-marm,” she said evilly and tapped her pen against her glass desk.  
  
“how are you going to do that?” marc asked, his interest piqued.   
  
“I have to make her fall for someone else,” Wilhelmina grabbed the remote and turned on the television in the corner of her room, amongst the floral display. A grainy black and white CCTV footage came onto the screen which marc recognised as the corner by the lobby of the lodge. It showed Daniel and molly, and their kiss. Marc gasped and nearly fell over, just to please Wilhelmina was dramatic effect was always welcomed.  
  
“oh, my Prada! He kissed her and now he is cavorting with the furry one?” marc asked, gagging silently at that thought.  
  
“yes, but Daniel pushed her away- this can only mean one thing. She has feelings for him, but he doesn’t feel the same way and instead has gone after…” she sighed “Betty. Do you know why this will completely ruin our plan marc?” Wilhelmina asked, and marc shook his head.  
  
“no,”  
  
“because Daniel won’t disappoint Betty, he is practically obsessed with the girl. So, molly cannot compete, and that leaves her running back to Connor, which leaves me without the man I want. Wilhelmina slater always gets what she wants!” she slammed her fists angrily on the table and marc reeled back in fear.  
  
“willie, you know Daniel… it will only be a matter of time before Daniel screws up!” marc said, hoping to tell Wilhelmina what she wanted to hear.  
“but he has already, I don’t think I am going to be able to force Daniel to cheat… he just has to lose Betty’s trust.” She leaned over the desk, to stare at marc. “you know why the issue went to print?” she asked, a devilish smirk appearing on her perfectly made over face.  
  
“because the boys at the loading docks couldn’t understand that you didn’t want to ship it?” marc suggested.  
  
“no because I told Daniel to tell them to! It would be a PR disaster, for Betty- but so far this issue of MODE has been the highest selling in months,” she grinned at marc. Marc was very disconcerted since he wasn’t sure whether or not Wilhelmina was actually smiling.  
  
“what?” marc said, still in shock.  
  
“Betty will hate Daniel, and then he and molly will fall into each other’s arms, leaving a heartbroken Connor to me,” she pursed her lips.  
  
“willie, not to rain on your perfect plan- but how will Betty know?” marc asked, staring at the diva, her hair twisted around to the back of her head in a perfect bun. She would make a wonderful villain.   
  
“I want you to leak the information,” she said and yelled at marc to get out, in her usual fashion.   
  
  
Marc pulled Betty into the copy room, and amongst Betty’s protests and shrieking he got her to quieten up. He told her, although half of it may have been riddles he still got the final message across.   
  
“why would Daniel do that?” Betty asked, looking at marc, who shrugged and sauntered out of the room. she felt as if she had been duped, she let herself be put up for the fall just so MODE would sell more issues, and she got the blame. Didn’t Daniel realise what this meant for her. she wasn’t him, she couldn’t just flash her name around and everything would be perfectly all right again.   
  
She didn’t know what to do and stood in the copy room, listening to the machine hum and hiss while she tried to still her erratic breathing, she had listened to Daniel. and she was wrong to. Why did she ever fall for his seduction? They had only kissed, but she still felt like an idiot, like so many others she had been played by Daniel Meade and now it wasn’t a matter or person dignity, instead a whole mess in the media.   
  
She walked into his office, and stood there looking around. He had everything! What did she have? Her reputation, her job- both of which were hanging in the balance. Her phone rang again, another unrecognised number. No, scratch that. Her reputation was effectively ruined.   
  
Daniel often didn’t think about the little people that would get hurt in the wake of whatever he did, and she was the one left to clean up. But she couldn’t fix this and it was up to him, she didn’t know how to feel about _them_ though. Daniel hadn’t lied exactly to her, only by omission and what happens when he decides that he doesn’t like her anymore and leaves an even bigger mess to clean up. Daniel walked into his office, and she could hear the sound of him stopping short.  
  
“Betty,” he said, his voice lingering with dread of what was about to happen.  
  
“Daniel, I cannot believe you did that!” she said, trying to keep her voice steady, although she couldn’t help some tears brimming on the rim of her eyelids. She was just glad that her back was turned to Daniel.  
  
“Betty,” his voice was small and he seemed to be panicking, which Betty didn’t feel was entirely unnecessary. “I am so sorry for putting that out there, please you have got to understand why I did it!” she didn’t need his explanation, she knew why he did it. marc had explained to her, but she couldn’t just accept his apology on that.  
  
“I know why you did it Daniel, but that doesn’t make it okay,” she whispered, still looking out of the window, seeing the city and how insignificant it looked.  
  
“I know-,”  
  
“don’t apologise again, I don’t want to hear it. it might not matter when you screw up because you are Daniel Meade, you have resources, but I don’t. I don’t have a last name that everyone knows, I don’t have money to buy me out. I only have my reputation, and now that is ruined” she said, and swept out of the office, without further explanation.  
  
  
Daniel stood the other side of his desk than he normally did and still smelt the lingering vanilla of Betty’s scent that drove him insane after all this time. he didn’t know what he was going to do, he royally screwed up- just when he was getting his life back on track, and then this happens. He sat at his desk with his head in his hands, when someone appeared at the door and his mother walked in.  
  
“Daniel, what is going on?” she asked, seeing Daniel with his head down on his desk.  
  
“I don’t want to talk about it!” he moaned and didn’t look up.  
  
“you don’t need to, not to me anyway,” his mother said and she must have known that Betty knew before him.  
  
“I don’t know what to do, I know I screwed up- but I have been trying to protect her,” he said, thinking of Betty’s makeover and how pleased she seemed with it.  
  
“I know dear; however, Betty isn’t you. she expects much more than an apology to her, because Suzuki is running around trashing her name… and she cannot just go home and create some new scandal so the press will forget all about her,” his mother tried to tell Daniel.  
  
“I can’t mom, she won’t forgive me. I have royally screwed up all chances of being with Betty,” he said massaging his hands through his scalp.  
  
“she will dear. You know how much she cares about you, and you care about her too. I presume that she agreed to try it out? Although I can see why she wouldn’t take you back,” his mother said bluntly, sitting on the chaise as he followed her.  
  
“how did you-?”   
  
“a mother knows her children, and it is obvious. While you may have not been with Betty all this time, you have been falling for her. and sometimes the best and strongest relationships come about when two people are already in love with each other,” she assured him, and Daniel looked as if his heart was breaking already.  
  
“I do, mom. I do love her,”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own ugly Betty!

“Betty, chica… I know you are mad at Daniel-,”  
  
“I really hope there isn’t a ‘but’ to that sentence,” Betty said darkly as she spooned cherry pie into her mouth.  
  
“Betty, I really don’t think you should be this mad at Daniel. and where did you get the pie from?” Hilda asked, joining Betty with a spoon as well.  
  
“I went to the guy on the street corner, and why shouldn’t I be mad at Daniel!” she said, flipping her newly straightened hair away from her face.  
“because he did everything he could to protect you, and it wasn’t even his fault. It was Wilhelmina’s, if Daniel hadn’t done it then Wilhelmina would have,” Hilda argued.  
  
“what? Marc said Daniel chose to do this!”   
  
“are you really going to listen to him?” Hilda said sceptically “marc is payed to betray people for a living, and I know it wasn’t Daniel since Daniel told me what happened,” Hilda responded, she had gotten the confession out of Daniel when he was here earlier and Betty was changing.   
  
“when? And why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Betty was seething, she couldn’t believe Hilda could keep something like this from her and have marc tell her instead and make it seem like all Daniel’s fault. She of course had some impression that Wilhelmina had something to do with it. because when it was the destroying of livelihoods Wilhelmina was generally involved.   
  
“because I knew you would react like this, and Betty… it really wasn’t Daniel’s fault,” Hilda tried to convince her sister, but Betty meagrely looked out of the window in the kitchen and sighed.  
  
“what makes you believe him?”   
  
“because he is a good person, you said it yourself. He wouldn’t lie about this, and he didn’t to you- he just…. forgot to mention it. if he hadn’t then Wilhelmina would have called back and said to ship it either way, he just did it himself and I think I know why,” she turned to the small television in the kitchen. The image was somewhat grainy, but she could clearly see it was Daniel and Wilhelmina in front of a massive press conference.  
  
“… reprimanded? Banished to a basement somewhere?” she heard Suzuki’s squeaky voice in the background as Wilhelmina looked as if she wanted to kill someone and Daniel looked apologetic.   
  
“well-,” Wilhelmina started to talk as Daniel spoke up instead.  
  
“We all do make mistakes, especially those of us in charge. I was the one who made the decision to let the magazine ship. I do regret it, but I regret more what has happened to the person who got blamed. It was my fault and Betty Suarez has done nothing to deserve this level of punishment, I am truly sorry, and it was my bad judgement that caused this,” he said and looked directly into the camera, wordlessly saying something that looked an awful lot like ‘I love you’. beside Betty, Hilda was in tears, and Betty felt like doing that herself, even though she was still mad at Daniel. however, it was because he didn’t tell her at first what Wilhelmina had tried to pull.  
  
“I’m going to work now, you can have the rest of the pie!” Betty yelled and called a cab to her house, before darting off again.   
  
Daniel got away from the crowd of the press, all holding camera’s aloft as if they were going to capture some extraordinary event- in some way they did, they had someone apologising for a little guy. Daniel was just glad to be out of the glare of the spotlight and was about to call Betty when molly stood in front of him.  
  
“hi, molly!” he said, his voice strangely garbled. he thought he would never see her again, so he would have to drop the charade with Betty, but it appeared not to be the case.  
  
“hello, Daniel. I saw what you did tonight, you don’t often see someone’s boss put themselves on the line for an assistant,”  
  
“she isn’t just an assistant, she is the love of my life,” Daniel insisted, and breathed out. It felt so good to finally admit that, as it was hard not to say that he didn’t love Betty. He barely knew anyone who didn’t automatically love Betty, she just found her way into anyone’s heart.   
  
“really, that is why you weren’t actually together?” molly said, and Daniel cursed under his breath. How did she figure it out? He and Betty were acting like a real couple, and they were actually together now.   
  
“erm… well, we weren’t- I admit that. But we are now,” Daniel assured her, before walking back into the office to avoid her.  
  
“Daniel, I don’t believe you. honestly, I wish I could… but just tell me you don’t have feelings for me,” she asked and Daniel stood, in front of his desk with his eyes wide.   
  
“I don’t-,” before he could come to the end of that sentence molly cut him off with a kiss. he pulled away angrily and nearly fell across his desk in his eagerness to get away from her.  
  
“molly what the hell!”   
  
“I didn’t think that you would mind! Betty will obviously dump you after this whole fiasco, and I don’t know what is going on with Connor, but things are falling apart in our relationship and you seem to really like me,” she whispered out and Daniel felt his breath hitch, however it had nothing to do with molly’s presence and everything to do with the fact that Betty was standing in the doorway of his office.   
  
Before he could recollect the exact moments that were worse than this one, especially with the look on Betty’s face and the knowledge that she would never trust him again he pushed past molly and ran after Betty, who was surprisingly fast in her heels. However, Daniel had longer legs and could catch up more easily to Betty’s side.  
  
“Betty, please it isn’t what it looked like!” Daniel pleaded, gripping her shoulder.  
  
“and what would that be Daniel? I don’t know what to think anymore, I knew you had a crush on her and then you tell me that you wanted a shot with me, and then you go and kiss her, after you publicly humiliate me,” she hissed, her voice low and thick with emotion.  
  
“didn’t you see my apology?” he asked, feeling equally stressed. Betty shook her head and ran out of the room, into the elevator, where the door’s closed leaving Daniel standing in the hallway.  
  
“are you okay?” came the quiet voice of molly from behind him.  
  
“no, please just go. You are engaged and I am in love with another woman,” Daniel moaned and walked off, leaving molly standing in the hallway and having the need to find Betty.   
  
  
  
Betty stormed into the kitchen, seeing Hilda at the kitchen table arguing with Justin, who sat across from her.   
  
“mom, I don’t want to talk about it!” Justin said before storming off outside.   
  
“what was that about?” Betty asked, somewhat wobbly in her heels, before she shrugged off her wet coat and sat at the table. Hilda looked at her in confusion.  
  
“are you drunk?”  
  
“no… maybe,” she said guilty and looked at the coffee pot, which was empty. It was now dark outside, since it had gotten quite late while Betty had been outside.  
  
“where did you go? did Christina forget that she is pregnant?” the only time Betty ever went out drinking Christina was generally involved, however Betty was so miserable by Daniel’s betrayal that she went and got drunk with Amanda and marc instead. The shocking thing was that they were actually quite supportive, Amanda even saying how she didn’t think Daniel would do that to Betty, and how there would be some choice (anonymous) gossip that had managed to reach Suzuki st Pierre’s ears by the following day.  
  
“no I am mad at Daniel, so I went out with marc and Amanda,” Betty cursed herself, she wasn’t supposed to tell Hilda about her being annoyed at Daniel, because that would lead to questions- which would lead to the realisation that she was being irrational and didn’t even listen to what he had to say.  
  
“really, what did Daniel do?”  
  
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she mused sulkily and grabbed a glass of water from by the sink.  
  
“well, I do! And you are going to tell me, and last thing I knew Daniel was saying I love you on television, and then you come home _drunk_ and annoyed with him,” Hilda raised her eyebrows and Betty looked away, flicking her hair back from her head.   
  
“he didn’t say he loved me. he mouthed it, he didn’t even say it… and then he goes and kisses molly.” Betty frowned at her sister, wanting to believe that she was still mad at Daniel, and convince herself that she didn’t overreact.   
  
“he kisses that skank!” Hilda yelled and Betty frowned, she didn’t think molly was a skank- she was a kindergarten teacher, but Hilda’s default curse for anyone was to call them a skank.  
  
“molly isn’t a skank, but he did kiss her and right in front of me, as well.” she moaned and pouted.  
  
“what did he say after?”  
  
“what?”  
  
“what the guy said after the mistake is really important,” Hilda said wisely, hoping to act as Betty’s dating ‘guru’ since she prided herself on her knowledge of that… department.   
  
“he said, ‘it isn’t what it looks like’ but that is one of the most used excuses,” Hilda grimaced, it was quite bad if a guy said that after doing something, especially involving another woman.  
  
“I agree, that is bad- but what if molly kissed him first?”  
  
“well… at the lodge, she did come onto him, but I didn’t see that, and I was too far away to hear what he said when he pulled away.”  
  
“ah! So he pulled away first! That shows he wasn’t into it, otherwise he wouldn’t have pulled away from her,”  
  
“really?” Betty asked sceptically, Daniel did seem mad, but it was one of the oldest excuses in the book to say that it wasn’t what it looked like. But, he had seemed sincere. Betty sat, staring at the glass of water, her inebriation effecting her thinking as she didn’t know whether to be mad at Daniel or forgive him.  
  
“yeah, then she probably kissed him… you didn’t even hear what he said to her after… he could have told her he was in love with you and not realised you were there.”  
  
“look, Hilda I don’t want to think about it, I am mad at Daniel and I just want to go to sleep,” she grumbled and marched up the stairs into her room, where her bed was warm and beckoning her.   
  
  
Betty woke up to the smell of pancakes and the sound of her mobile buzzing on the nightstand, she rolled over, ignoring the splitting headache that had invaded her temples. She answered her phone without looking at the caller ID.   
  
“Betty, are you okay?” Daniel’s voice was gentle and not laced with anger like the last time he called her since she was late into work.  
  
“Daniel, I don’t want to talk to you,” she said angrily and was seconds away from hanging up, before Daniel tried desperately to hang up.  
  
“Betty- please! I want to explain that she kissed me!” Betty sighed, however her heart leapt, she guessed that is what happened, however she didn’t want to fully believe Daniel without another explanation.  
  
“I don’t want to talk about this,” Betty moaned into the phone, not daring to move to fast, in case she incurred any other side effects of the hangover.  
  
“Betty, we need to… I thought it had just started, but you can’t just block me out because someone else kissed me… I love you Betty,” she knew that by now, Daniel had told her he loved her months ago, however, at that time she didn’t think it was any more than platonic. But, now she wanted to believe him. Daniel may be a notorious bachelor; however, he didn’t lie to women about his true feelings. He had never said ‘I love you’ to anyone and not mean it. that is why she felt tears brim in her eyes.  
  
“what happened Daniel?” Betty responded after a little while, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. They had fallen over her eyes. She didn’t feel like being the new ‘beautiful’ Betty. She just wanted to go back to being herself, Daniel’s sidekick who didn’t have people fawning all over her because of her appearance.   
  
“she said that you would hate me over the whole ‘tornado girl’ thing, and I thought you still did, but she kissed me anyway. I told her I was in love with you…”  
  
“so, people you have told you love me… 400 members of the news media, and molly… and me,” she seemed pleased, and her chest felt tight with happiness, not to mention the swarm of butterflies in her stomach with the sound of his voice.   
  
“yeah, and I meant it Betty. Molly kissed me, and I told her I couldn’t do it. it is wrong, she is engaged to Connor and he is my friend… plus I love another woman,”  
  
“who may she be?” Betty asked, her tone changing to flirty again.  
  
“well her name starts with b-,” suddenly Betty’s door flew open and Hilda practically bounded into the room, yelling at Betty to get up.  
  
“I love you too Daniel, I got to go,” Betty said down the phone before hanging up and glaring at Hilda.  
  
“Hilda what the heck is wrong with you?”  
  
“it’s Papi! He is having chest pains! Quick!” Hilda yelled and Betty ran down the stairs, ignoring the dizziness she felt, and it only got worse when she saw her father lying on the couch, ashen faced.  
  
  
Daniel raced to the hospital, trying not to panic at Betty’s cryptic message. He looked down at his phone and saw how it easily it could cause panic.  
  
HOSPITAL- NOW   
  
Was all it said and now Daniel was close to having a panic attack. He couldn’t bare it if Betty had gotten hurt, but there was some part of his mind that rationalised it to prevent himself crying out of fear. he had just spoken to Betty, about half an hour before he got her text, and nothing would be seriously wrong since Betty herself was texting him- her family had his contact, apart from Justin who didn’t have it since Hilda was afraid that her son would leak it to the internet.   
  
He got to the main waiting room for the ER, where Betty was waiting for him, with Hilda and Justin by her side. his heart plummeted when he couldn’t see Ignacio with them. Both the sisters were in tears, only Betty looked up when he appeared by her side.  
  
“Daniel!” she practically crawled onto his lap and sat there for a moment, waiting for Daniel to respond.  
  
“Betty, what happened?” he tried to keep his voice gentle, but there was nothing stopping it from shaking.  
  
“we think Papi had a heart attack,” came the ragged voice of Hilda from beside him. he was afraid of this and often offered to fund Ignacio’s heart medication, however Betty always refused, insisting that he had done enough for her and her family.   
  
“hadn’t he been taking his medication?”  
  
“he had, but his arrhythmia means that it could happen at any time… they said they don’t know anything about his condition,” Hilda said as Betty was shaking too much to be helpful.  
  
“okay, will the doctor come and tell you?” Hilda nodded, before they waited. Betty was still on his lap, with her tears soaking through his thin shirt.  
  
Suddenly a female doctor came up and led them through the corridors, Daniel was looking at Betty’s face, which was tear stained. Hilda and Justin looked as if they were in shock – which they were. Ignacio had been a big part of his family’s life for years on end, especially through the traumatic death of the girl’s mother, and how he was the predominant influence in their lives, helping them cope with the loss of their mother.   
  
“so, are you all immediate family?” the doctor asked, looking at the family that were crowded into her room. none of them wanted Daniel to leave, so Betty placed her hand on his and nodded. “so… Mr. Suarez has appeared to have a quadruple bypass, we are currently operating. Most of the cost was covered by his insurance, however we are going to keep him in for a while,”  
  
“what about his heart medication? Why didn’t it work?” the doctor looked at Hilda for a moment, before looking through her files.  
  
“his lifestyle appears to be putting a strain on his heart, according to this it was caused by high blood pressure and cholesterol levels… but future heart attacks can be prevented by improving diet and lifestyle as well as regular administration of the appropriate medication,”  
  
“so, is he going to live?” Betty asked, tentatively. It was the first-time Daniel had heard her speak for over an hour.  
  
“his condition must stabilise when he gets out of surgery, then only immediate family will be allowed to visit him. unfortunately, I cannot inform you about Mr. Suarez’s condition right now.” she said, pushing her glasses up her nose.  
  
“well, how long is he going to be?” Hilda asked, moments away from going all queen’s princess on this doctor, who was sure to have many patients practicing that too.  
  
“about four more hours, you have a number of options what you want to do with your time while he is in surgery. You can wait in the waiting room for surgical procedure, or you can go to your respective places and get ready for when he comes out of surgery.”   
  
“when will he be allowed home?” Betty spoke again, not wanting to have Hilda incur her wrath in the middle of the doctor’s office.   
  
“it depends on the progress following the surgery, although he will have to be kept in for observation for a few days afterwards.” She said, tapping her fingers against the desk.   
  
They went back to the Suarez home, while Daniel quickly called a town-car saying he had to get something, leaving Betty standing in the hallway looking lost.  
  
“why didn’t we stay at the hospital, Hilda? We could have really helped from there, and Daniel has just run off, leaving us- I mean,” she gritted her teeth, feeling unusually angry as Hilda stared at her, not fully focusing.   
  
“Betty, Daniel has his own life, and he came practically the minute you called, why should he stay here while we are waiting, he has his own family,” Betty didn’t feel like sticking up for Daniel, she was numb from the traumatic events, they didn’t know what was going to happen and they were just told to go, and wait until he gets out.   
  
“Hilda, I know but Daniel didn’t even say why he was running off, he just did so and left us here, waiting for him to return and give us an explanation.”  
  
“stop worrying about it- he will come back when he comes back,” she sighed and dragged a miserable Justin upstairs to prepare Ignacio’s room for his return.   
  
Betty went into the room, seeing how it was beginning to get dark, seeing as she woke up late and the journey to the hospital plus waiting time when they were there could all be considered. As Betty sat on her bed she noticed the gilt edges of her picture album sticking out from under her bed and picked it up.  
  
She looked through the picture album, remembering the times they spent with her Mami, and how after her mother’s death Papi had been the strong one, before Betty felt like she had to be there for everyone. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like without Papi, she still had so much to learn, like how to look after herself and not be so naive. Suddenly she heard thundering footsteps on the stairs, before Daniel burst into her room dragging a heavy suitcase.  
  
“Daniel? I thought you went home,”  
  
“no I am staying here- to look after you guys… Betty you do everything for everyone but you cannot do it all by yourself and I thought since I am your boyfriend I could come and help?” Daniel flashed his crooked grin and Betty smiled at him. she didn’t expect him to be so supportive- because she had truly believed that he had run off as he so often did when he was stressed.  
  
“boyfriend, huh?” she asked, shyly twisting her toes in the carpet, a very cute habit she had when she was nervous.   
  
“yeah, if that is okay with you?”  
  
“of course, I don’t think I would want anyone else to be mine!” she grinned and leaned up to kiss him. he held her by the waist and dipped her down so that she had her back against the bed, as he continued to kiss her. he moved so that he was kissing her neck and shoulders, marvelling at the softness of her skin.  
  
Needless to say, they got carried away, and only managed to control themselves and calm down when Hilda waltzed into the room and stared at Daniel and Betty, who were busy making out on the bed.   
  
“what the hell is going on here?” she yelled, while Daniel detached himself from Betty, who was blushing hard.  
  
“me and Daniel have decided that we can work it out,”  
  
“because he loves you?” Hilda asked in a semi-mocking tone.  
  
“yes, Hilda- because I love Betty,” Daniel said, capturing Betty’s mouth in another kiss.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty!

They watched as Ignacio reclined in his chair, Daniel pulling Betty tight against him as she was crying, so happy to have her father back home and safe. In the last few weeks, several things had happened, including the coupling of Connor and Wilhelmina, not to mention molly running off with another one of Connor’s friends, a stockbroker that might have been better at seducing women than Daniel was. Which left a heart-broken Connor to fall into Wilhelmina’s arms. Wilhelmina had tried to run interference with Daniel and Betty, in order to achieve her goals but once she recognized molly’s flighty nature she set her up with another one of Connor’s friends. It was good to have connections throughout the states.  
  
Betty and Daniel moved to sit on the couch as a film started to play in the back ground. It was nearing Christmas time as Ignacio’s recuperation was slow and the whole family was worried about him. with Betty and Daniel helping Hilda out they managed to organize the Suarez family home ready for when he came back.  
  
Hilda walked into the kitchen, her hips swinging as Betty followed after her.  
  
“Betty, not that I don’t appreciate your help, but I think that we need a nurse?”  
  
“really, I don’t think we can afford it?”  
  
“with Richie rich over there helping, we sure can!” Hilda grinned and Betty put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes at her sister.  
  
“I told you not to call him that, and we cannot use Daniel’s money! He has already done enough,” Daniel walked into the kitchen, holding the empty mug of chamomile tea in one hand and the newspaper in the other.  
  
“I was the one who suggested it. Betty, I have used my money for enough causes that weren’t worthy and it was just me being reckless. But I have a chance to help someone, and it is none other than my incredibly sexy girlfriend’s family,” he grinned at Betty, before starting to kiss her.  
  
“would you two just get a room!” Hilda said and walked out of the room, wearing an expression of disgust and disapproval. The later was very unusual to be seen on Hilda’s face, she was usually the one incurring it.  
  
“mm, certainly.” Daniel whispered. Betty smiled, she and Daniel hadn’t done… the deed- yet. It was making her anxious as it was a big step. Not only was it defying his father’s wishes in the first place (not that Betty really wanted to listen to them) but she was afraid it would be impossible to go back to being just friends. It didn’t happen that way for most people, but they were such strong friends first and then their budding relationship happened.   
  
She didn’t want to make it impossible to go back to the way there were, especially if it didn’t work out. She was sure she would have a place in her heart for Daniel forever, however she didn’t want to contend with a bevy of nineteen-year-old models who were infinitely beautiful and thin. she wasn’t, she was short and Latina and had proper curves, she was a real woman.    
  
She moved out of his grasp and looked up at Daniel.   
  
“erm, Daniel I think I need to talk to you about something?”  
  
“is it about sex?” he asked bluntly, reminding Betty of his mother, with the whole not going around the houses in an explanation thing.   
  
“maybe,” Betty didn’t look into his eyes, knowing the cerulean depths had the uncanny knack to make her tell him everything.   
  
“Betty, I told you- forget all the third date stuff, it is when you are ready,” he said kindly, kissing her hands again, and working his way up her arm.  
  
“I know, but I am just worried,” she went and curled up on one of the chairs while Daniel looked at her, confused.  
  
“what about?” she made the mistake of looking into his eyes and had to tell him. there was no way she could say no to Daniel.  
  
“what if it doesn’t work out, and then we have gone too far and we can’t go back to being friends?” Betty’s spluttered, a blush rising to her cheeks in embarrassment about how paranoid it seemed.  
  
“why would it not work out? Are you having second thoughts?” Daniel seemed completely panicked, and although Betty felt somewhat guilty to have thought it, she also found it quite endearing that he thought she would be the one to end the relationship. In her mind, any scenario ended with Daniel running off with a stunning blonde.  
  
“no! no. I am just worried I won’t be good enough for you, and you would prefer some model,”  
  
“okay, do you really think I would do that?” he seemed more hurt by the very idea that he could imagine her doing something like that.  
  
“no, not really- but I just don’t want to think about it- since I am not very attractive, and what happens when I am like 50? Or had loads of kids?”  
she wanted to shut her mouth the minute she said that, since she had projected too far into the future and Betty was almost certain it would scare the ex-playboy off. Even if he did admit that he wanted a family to Betty before anyone else.  
  
“Betty, as long as they were my kids I would still find you insanely attractive. You are hung up on the idea of beauty portrayed by MODE. I don’t have to remind you that it isn’t real. You have seen how much we photoshop out and in to those pictures,” Betty giggled slightly remembering Daniel yelling at the graphic’s department after several photoshop mishaps.  
  
“yeah, but there are tons of beautiful women out there, and I don’t fit into any category,”  
  
“you do! Haven’t you seen the paintings in some of the most famous galleries? You look more like those women than any model I have ever seen, and they are considered to be the most beautiful in the world.”  
  
“they don’t have glasses, or braces,” she reminded him, folding her arms over her chest but grinning inwardly.  
  
“you know they aren’t permanent, well maybe the glasses are- but there is always contacts or… surgery,” she cringed at both prospect’s and Daniel laughed at how adorable she looked in the soft winter light.   
  
“ew, no! I hate having things near my eyes, and laser surgery doesn’t always work, and it is expensive… but then, if you are paying for it, Richie rich?”  
  
“what did you just call me?” Daniel spluttered, incredulously. Betty blushed at how shocked he looked and turned away from him, so she wouldn’t have to see his face.  
  
“it is Hilda’s name for you, I just think it is cute,” Daniel put one hand on his chest pretending to be offended, but brought one of Betty’s up to rest on his perfectly toned chest as well.  
  
“okay, I love you,” he said, leaving Betty in shocked silence. Since the first time he had said it to her after _that day_ he hadn’t said it again- leading Betty, for the past few weeks to wonder whether or not it was true.  
  
“y- you do? For real?”  
  
“yes, baby. I do love you, and I am sorry it took me so long to reiterate my feelings, but I didn’t want to put my feelings on the line when everything was so messed up,” Betty blinked slowly, Daniel Meade said he loved her, and it wasn’t a fluke or part of her imagination, it was real.  
  
“I love you too,” she whispered, before kissing him again, while his hands rested on her waist. She knew she could trust him now, he had put his career and his slowly improving reputation on the line for her, and she didn’t wonder why she loved him so much.  
  
Because to love, you need to give it your all. And not be afraid to make mistakes, as long as you want to right them afterwards.  
  
“I think I am ready,” Betty whispered, putting her little hand in his. Daniel immediately caught her meaning and swallowed.  
  
“now, right here?”  
  
“not _right_ here, but we have other options,” she said seductively in his ear, leaning gently against his chest, while she turned to kiss his neck. He really hoped he wouldn’t have to walk far.  
  
  
They lay back in his apartment, Betty beaming at the lack of evidence at the mural, since the one good implication of Renee’s little pyromaniac act was that Daniel had to have that ridiculous mural painted over.  
  
She rolled over, still entwined in the mix between the sheet and Daniel’s body. He ran his hands over her side, feeling her curves and soft flesh.   
  
“are you okay?” she asked and Daniel nodded, burrowing his head into her silken hair.  
  
“yeah, I am fine. I feel kind-a bad because I took you away from your family,”  
  
“you know Hilda was moments away from kicking us out of the house, and I think I needed some alone time. Hilda did tell us to get a room, remember?” Betty answered and Daniel nodded, grinning at her.  
  
“yes, I am glad we did this. because I wanted to show you how committed I am- Betty I love you, and in some way, I always have. I don’t need anyone or anything else when I have you here,” he murmured against her head, leaving Betty to smile and snuggle against him.  
  
“you are so sweet, I am glad the tornado girl thing happened,” Betty said, on reflection, causing a confused glance from Daniel.  
  
“really? Because you were stressed out practically the whole time, especially with molly hanging around and hitting on me every five seconds.” Betty sighed, remembering that. She was just glad she had Daniel all to herself now.  
  
“I did like it! because it brought us together, if you hadn’t listened to the ice queen,” Betty started, listening to Daniel’s chuckle at her name calling of Wilhelmina. However, said ice queen seemed to have melted in Connor’s presence.   
  
“the ice queen would have done it either way, but I guess you are right. I felt so bad about it, I kept you at that retreat, and you made me feel so guilty about liking molly that it kind of spurred me on. I think I started to question whether or not you were jealous, but I did love seeing you being all stand-offish.” He grinned at Betty, before kissing her passionately again.   
  
“you didn’t think I would like you back,” Betty blushed when she had said that, she didn’t think it would come out so similar to when she was in fifth grade.  
  
“yeah… you are perfect and kind and adorable, and I am… tainted,” Betty laughed her gruff laugh that Daniel loved when he saw the pure amusement mixed in with the post coital glow on her face.  
  
“I don’t think you are tainted, I think you are perfect,” she whispered against his skin, kissing him again.  
  
“really? Perfect?”   
  
“uh, huh… mmm,” Betty was slightly distracted by the direction of Daniel’s hands at that point and how they felt electrified against her skin. Daniel chuckled at her, and Betty kissed him again, feeling as if they were in their own little world. She paused for a moment and pulled his hand away from her.  
  
“Daniel, I love you,” she whispered and kissed him again, as he murmured into her open mouth the words too.


End file.
